The Labyrinth 2000
by King Kate
Summary: The Labyrinth movie set in the modern day. Sarah Williams is an 18 year old girl who loves video games and hates her spoiled little brother Toby. When her parents go out and leave her to baby sit she comes face to face with the creator of her newest game: The Goblin King. Now in a race to save her brother, Sarah must travel to the cyber game and solve the maze to beat the creator.
1. Chapter 1 - The White Owl

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Labyrinth of any of its awesome characters and all rights go to the owners. This is a work of fanfiction.

Note: This is a version of the Labyrinth set in modern day 2016 based on the movie and its Novelization.

 **Chapter 1**

 _The White Owl_

No one could have noticed the owl, hidden in the pixels, gliding ever closer to the screen on silver wings. The owl saw and heard everything.

He settled in a cluster of pixels just out of view on a well designed tree. From his hidden spot he watched a girl in her bed beyond the barrier. The wind outside drifted against the open window. The electricity in the air rose the hair on the girl's neck. The owl noticed everything with intelligent, watchful eyes.

Skillfully, the girl's thumbs played across the controller, brining the scene to life. From the shadows of the tree below the watchful own a girl, not so unlike the girl beyond the screen, emerged. The girl on the bed mirrored the expression of the pixelated woman: concentrated. The pixelated woman moved forward awkwardly, arms stretched before her towards an unseen force. At the bottom of the screen two options appeared in tilted font.

 _Give me the child -_ **A**

 _This game ends here -_ **B**

Beyond the screen the girl in the bed did not have to think twice. Without looking down her thumbs moved from memory to choose the correct option.

" _Give me the child,"_ the girl pleads, " _Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child you have stolen_."

 _My will is as strong as yours -_ **A**

 _You have no right -_ **B**

" _For my will is as strong as yours... and my Kingdom as great..._ "

 _You have no power of me -_ **A**

 _Please don't hurt him_ \- **B**

The girl in the bed closes her eyes for a moment. In the distance thunder rumbles through the sky. The owl watches closely.

"You have to be kidding me," she growls, "That can't be the only two options!"

A clap of thunder interrupts her thoughts causing her to drop her customized white and grey controller. The big shaggy sheepdog that slept beside her jumped as well. Until now he had been content to sleep silently at Sarah's feet until she needed a break from her game to burry her face in his hair. Now he turned and began to bark at the screen, alerted by an unseen presence.

Sarah ignored Merlin, instead focusing her attention on the TV propped up on a stool. She approached the television, retrieving a long black cord from her desk where several were tangled together. With it she plugged her smart phone (the cover which matched her controller) into the television.

Merlin continued to bark as she began fiddling with an app to bypass the suggested phrases on screen. She had done this before, just a simple pass into the voice automated system to put her own phrase in. But just as she started typing her new words into her phone the pixels began to jumble into a mass before her eyes. The pixelated girls on the screen disappeared into a scene of flickering black, white, and blue colours.

"Oh no!" Sarah exclaimed, fearing she had ruined her old television for good this time.

She pulled the cord from the hole with the intention of undoing the damage. When that didn't work she started pressing buttons on the black and green game system to turn it off.

While her head was down only Merlin caught the pixels shifting into the form of the graceful owl, dominating the screen. Merlin barked fiercely at the screen. The owls dark eyes settled on Sarah before disappeared as her head lifted from the system.

The system was old and the red ring around the power button told her that there was nothing she could do to bring it back.

In the distance a clock tower chimed seven times. Sarah, angered by the loss of her only game system, threw her phone angrily against the floor snapping the back off and startling Merlin. To add to her bad luck a thick layer of rain suddenly poured through the window, soaking her white laptop propped against the wall.

"No, no, no!" She crushed to the window to slam it shut, "It's not fair!"

She was close to tears now. How could this have happened? She had bypassed plenty of games before and she was always careful not to let anything happen to her precious game system. Now it was fried and she had no money to get another one. If her laptop was ruined too she would be completely cut off.

From down the hall, louder than the storm raging outside, Sarah could hear her brother Toby wailing. She hated Toby. She hated how all of the money her parents could spare on gifts went to him. She hated how her father loved him more than her and how he spoke of how proud he was of him when he was only a toddler.

She put the thought far from her mind. He wasn't her problem. If it wasn't for her father she would have nothing to do with him. Instead she focused her attention on her last possible piece of entertainment. Her laptop, which had been almost completely soaked, turned on without an issue. She sighed with relief.

Immediately the signed on to her favourite forum dealing with video games and electronics. There she would be able to get help from others, strangers she knew nothing about, on fixing her system and maybe her phone.

 _Please HELP,_ she typed, _red ring of death upon me. Any hints on how to fix it? If not, anyone looking to give away a gaming system to a poor girl with parents who wouldn't spare her a penny when it could go to her ANNOYING baby brother?_

She hit send just as a loud bang on her door caused her to jump.

"What?" She asked, irritated.

"Sarah," her stepmother's voice came from the other side of the door, "Your father and I will be leaving for dinner now. Can you please come out of your room and look after Toby while we are out?"

"I'm busy." She called back, focusing her attention on her dead system.

"Sarah," her stepmother's voice was insistent this time, "You know the rules. Your father and I go out very rarely-"

"You go out _every_ weekend!"

"Let me finish! I only ask you to baby sit if it won't interfere with your plans."

"It does interfere with my plans! I'm busy, I told you. I have something very important to do right now."

The door rattled, a sign her stepmother was trying to enter. "What have we told you about locking your door? And I know you don't have plans. You never leave your room anymore. I would think if you had plans you would come and tell us. Just bring your gaming things into Toby's room and sit with him until we get home."

"I can't just move my gaming things into the hall. Everything has stopped working thanks to you never letting me get a new system, thank you very much!" She yelled through the door.

"Well, if your things aren't working then there should be no problem sitting with Toby."

"Just leave me alone! You don't know anything about this!" She screamed, her eyes filling with tears as she looked upon her dead system and phone lying on the ground.

Angrily she threw herself onto her bed, pulling the laptop close to her.

 _Update: Stepmother thinks that since all my old systems are broken I can be her slave and look after my bratty brother. Well the joke is on her, I still have my laptop._

She stood from the bed, determined not to let her stepmother beat her so easily. She had many different gadgets organized all over her room she could use to try to fix her system or her phone.

On book shelves she had plenty of gaming guides, instruction manuals for putting TVs together from her father (back before Toby came along and she could get a new TV when her old one died), and cheat codes for her older systems. Stacked neatly on hanging shelves from the wall were her old portable players with hundreds of games she had completed a hundred times.

She was digging through a cluttered drawer of cords, rubber bands, and memory cards for her game systems when a soft knock came at the door.

"I told you to leave me alone." I said darkly.

"Sarah? Can I talk to you?" Her father's voice awoke something deep within her that made her cringe.

"There's nothing to talk about..." She said just loud enough for him to hear.

"Your mother and I are leaving now. Toby isn't feeling well so you will need to keep an eye on him all night. See you later tonight." His voice faded away with the sound of his footsteps.

Angrily, Sarah shoved and handful of memory cards, elastic bands, and an discarded motherboard into her jean pockets.

"You really wanted to talk to me didn't you?" She sobbed to herself, "You basically broke down the door!"

She threw herself back on her bed and sobbed into her pillow. Beside her Merlin licked her white blouse. He understood just as much as she did how awful her parents acted towards her. Even he had been left behind in the absence of Sarah's mother who had brought him into the house when he was just a puppy and Sarah was just a young girl. Many years had passed since then and he had watched her slowly grow sadder as she passed into late teenage years. Now he felt he was all she had left.

"It's not fair!" She sobbed.

She heard the garage close over the sound of the rain and thunder. But more than anything else she could not drown out the sound of Toby crying. In her mind she wondered how her parents could be so cruel to leave her with a sick crying baby. Wasn't it their job as parents to take care of their child? Not that they were very good at being parents she supposed.

When she was able to calm herself down she stood and moved back to her collection of prized childhood gaming devices. Nothing she had on hand would be able to fix her system or phone, she would have to get her dad to look at it in the morning if he could spare her some time. In the meantime she could always download a free game on her tablet that she kept charging in case of an emergency.

Her eyes came to rest on the empty space where her tablet always sat. A sickening realization filled her. Someone had been in her room in the brief time she left to get food or take a shower. They had taken her prized gaming tablet.

Down the hall she heard softly, over the sound of Toby crying, a voice speaking in calm tones. Her anger grew until it overflowed.

"I _hate_ you!" she screamed to the wind, to her stepmother, and to Toby.

She threw her door open and stormed down the hall in a fury. Merlin followed her out but only ran the opposite way down the hall where her rage could not reach him.

In her parents room, next to their oversized bed, Toby sat wailing in his crib. Attached to the side of the crib with a new device meant to hold such a device was her tablet. The volume had been turned to the highest setting and a woman's voice calmly read from a series of children's stories. Toby took no notice.

Sarah stormed towards the crib and ripped the tablet from the device, only to find that it was tightly secured with a lockable cord. She screamed with rage at the act her parents had done against her. Not only would they steal from her but they would prevent her from retrieving her _own property_!

"I hate her! I hate you!" She wailed at Toby, who screamed only louder at her.

She looked down at the screen and exited out of the program, cutting off the woman's voice. Acting on a hunch she checked the purchase history knowing very well that she had never bought anything on it. Sure enough, over $25 worth of books, baby games, and other programs had been purchased to turn her tablet into Toby's private tablet.

"They don't have money to spend on me but they have plenty to give to you?" She cried, dropping the tablet and letting the screen drop outside the crib where Toby couldn't reach it.

Outside the door the storm raged harder mirrored by Toby's wailing, which grew louder with every passing minute.

"Someone please save me from this retched family!" She begged, tears streaming down her face.

 _"Did you hear that?"_ _A muffled voice comes from Sarah's room._

 _From within the broken TV several shapes began to move among the pixels. Slowly shapes began to emerge in the screen until dozens of black, beady eyes could be made out staring. Sarah did not notice from the other room as these shapes came closer to the screen, fighting to try to listen down the hall where Sarah was._

Back in the bedroom Sarah was beyond self-pity. "Just be quiet will you? What do you want, a story or something? It's not like you haven't already taken everything from me. Why shouldn't you have my tablet?"

She snatched the tablet from where it hung off the crib and scrolled through the apps she had taken the time to download months ago until she found an app that played videos.

She typed in 'baby videos for spoiled brats' and hit 'I'm feeling lucky' even though she felt anything but lucky.

A blank video appeared on the screen with a deep voice speaking in a British accent.

" _Once upon a time there was a beautiful young girl whose mother always left her alone with the baby. The baby was spoiled and wanted everything to itself, making the girl a sort of slave to him. But what the girl didn't know was that the King of the Goblins had fallen in love with her and had given her special powers…_ "

Sarah recognized the story from her video game, which she had never gotten to finish. And though Toby continued to wail Sarah remained spellbound by the man's voice, reading the story.

" _The girl knew that by saying these words the baby would be taken away to the Goblin Kingdom and so she suffered in silence. But one night, the baby was being very naughty, pushing the girl to the edge of her patience…_ "

Abruptly the video changed into another with bright colours and childish music. Sarah shrugged and reattached it to the holder so Toby, who was too busy wailing to notice it, could watch it if he wanted.

With that accomplished Sarah returned to her room, confident that if music, a story, and a video couldn't calm Toby down that nothing else would. She threw herself into her bed where her laptop awaited her return.

Sarah never could have known that the faces that once watched eagerly from the screen had once again gone into hiding, waiting for their moment to come.

She pulled up her forum site and continued typing.

 _Update: My disgusting stepmother has decided that it is okay to come into_ my _room and take_ my _things to give to the stupid spoiled baby._ _She is willing to spend money she claims she doesn't have on books and videos the baby doesn't even like instead of giving any to me to fix things. I guess she would rather just take my things instead of buying something for the baby. I hate her!_

She hit send with more force than necessary. A ping answers right away indicating a reply.

 _GblnKng: Say your words right…_

"Goblin King, huh?" Sarah snickered casting a glance over to the game, still stuck in her broken game system, "He must be a big fan of the game."

 _SarhWill: Cool name Mr. Goblin King. I'm not sure what words I'm supposed to use but I do wish you are your Goblins would come and take my brother away. Right now!_

Before Sarah could hit send her TV exploded in a hail of sparks sending her cowering under the safety of her blankets. Down the hall Toby's cries were cut short by an unseen force while Merlin barked as though he were in pain.

From the safe darkness of her blankets Sarah couldn't see an empty crib sitting alone in a room or the dark eyes that gazed upon her from a broken television.


	2. Chapter 2 - What's Said is Said

**Disclaimer:** The Labyrinth does not belong to me and all credit goes to the owners.

 **Chapter 2**

 _What's Said is Said_

Thunder rumbled in the distance and Merlin's barking filled the house. Overhead the storm raged against the windows and the walls of the house.

Carefully, Sarah peaked over her blankets and listened as silence fell over the house. Even Merlin stopped barking, choosing instead to cower under the table in the kitchen. From down the hall she could hear no sign from Toby's room.

"Toby?" She called.

Worried when she got no response she threw back to covers and abandoned her bed. Slowly she made her way down the hall with the fear of what she might find.

She crept around the door and looked into a dark room. The storm must have suddenly knocked the power out, she discovered. But there _was_ a light coming from inside the room. It was the tablet that Sarah had set up on the side of the crib, the screen flashing white into the crib illuminating a large clump of blankets.

"Toby, are you alright?" She called again, louder this time.

When there was still no answer or movement from the crib Sarah moved forward. She approached the crib waiting for something to stir beneath the blankets. Carefully her hand moved forward, gripping at the blankets. She pulled them back to reveal nothing more than an empty crib.

She gasped as lightning struck the house causing a crash so loud it nearly shook Sarah off her feet. Her hand shot out to grab the crib for support.

Laughter echoed through the room from a hundred unseen mouths. Sarah trembled, looking every way trying to locate the thieves.

It was then that she discovered that the laughter was coming from her tablet. She jumped to her feet, seizing the tablet from where it was stuck on the side.

On the screen she couldn't see the source of the laughter. Instead, she could see the start menu for the game The Labyrinth, which she had been playing on her system before it was destroyed. The scene showed a young girl, a little younger than her, standing on a hill overlooking the Labyrinth, which spanned out before her.

"What have you done with my brother, you monsters!" She demanded, screaming at the screen.

Her frustration and confusion grew when she realized that there was no way this game could be on her tablet. It had only been released for her system and she hadn't seen an app for the game when she had flipped through them only a few minutes ago to find her video app. There was no possible way Toby could have done anything to get this game open on her tablet.

The tablet slipped from her fingers crashing against the crib. She took off down the hall intent on finding out what was up with her game. As soon as she walked through her bedroom door she noticed the TV and her system were working once again. On the screen was the title screen of the game.

"That's not possible…" She whispered.

Just as she was approaching the screen she noticed the shape of a snowy owl flying towards the screen from over the Labyrinth. At first she thought it would stop before the girl but instead it flew past and exploded in a blinding light right in front of the screen.

Sarah flinched, shielding her eyes from the light. When she looked back she was surprised to see a very clear face smiling back at her.

At the center of the screen, covering all other images behind it, was the image of a man. He had short blonde hair falling lazily into his mismatched eyes; one blue and one almost green. He had high cheek bones exaggerated against his pale complexion. His lips pull up into a sinister smile revealing pointed canines.

"Hullo, Sarah." He smiled. Right away she recognized his voice.

"He's from that video!" She cried.

"Indeed I am." He chuckled.

"You can hear me? Who are you! What do you have to do with my brother disappearing!"

On the screen the man shook his head but his smile didn't fade.

Sarah took a moment to think about it. He did look familiar but she couldn't put her finger on it. On the bed beside her she could see the cover for the game and, on it, the face of the man on the screen. But the man on the cover was older and had a large hairstyle and much more makeup than Sarah had ever seen. The man on the screen looked like a normal person.

She reached out and grabbed the cover, turning to show the man on the screen.

"You're him, aren't you? You're the Goblin King." She accused.

He simply smiled, waiting for her to go on.

"None of this makes sense! You look like the King but you don't look like the King. He's only a character in a video game. How can you talk to me through the screen? And where is my brother?!" She cried.

"So many questions at once…" His smile never faltered.

"What is going on?" She demanded.

"I do look like the King, I am the King. I created the Labyrinth."

"You're the creator of the game? Then you were the one who messaged me online. But what does this have to do with my brother?"

"You wished me to take him away."

"And you took him? Where did you take him? Give him back, now!"

For the first time the King's smile faded and his eyes grew sympathetic.

"What's said is said."

"I didn't mean it literally!"

"Oh, you didn't?" His tone was mocking.

"Please give him back." She begged.

"Sarah," he interrupted her, "Go back to your games and your music. Forget about the baby."

"I can't." She insisted.

"I have an offer for you," the subject change caught Sarah off guard stopping any insult she could have thrown at him.

She would have loved to beg or do anything to get her brother back before her parents came home and realized what she had done. That, and she was truly worried what this man would do to her brother wherever he was keeping him.

"What is it?"

"It's an offer, nothing more. But this offer would allow you to accomplish your dreams. You could create the game that works anyway you want and you could afford all the games you could play. Do you want it?"

Sarah said nothing. For a moment she allowed herself to consider his offer. It meant she could work her dream job, probably with the King himself. Her stepmother wouldn't be able to withhold money from her because she would have her own. She could even move out and into a house where everything she did would be video games…

But what would become of Toby?

She had made her decision and in that time the King had noticed her hesitation. He smiled knowingly at her.

"I appreciate your offer, I really do, but I have to have my brother back." She insisted.

The screen flashed and the King was then standing back from the camera so Sarah could get a good look at him. He was thin, wearing a simple black dress shirt and pants. From what she could see he was wearing plain black shoes as well, a big change from the Kingly outfit he had wore when she had played the game before. The only remainder of his Kingly outfit was the cane with the crystal handle, which he held close to himself.

But his eyes were frustrated now. He held his cane tightly in his hand until it disappeared into the pixels and a hissing snake took its place.

"Don't defy me!" He shouted darkly, launching the snake, fangs bared, towards the screen.

Sarah screamed as the snake broke through the screen in a blast of light, wrapping itself around her neck. She fought against it eventually tearing it from her neck and throwing it the ground at her feet. She was breathing hard by time she realized that it wasn't a snake but a thick controller cable.

All around her laughter sounds. She glances around, once again trying to locate the laughing monsters. This time she realized that their laughter was coming from every system she owned. Snickers followed her from her portable devices, her broken phone, and her laptop.

She turned a shaky look back towards the screen where the King was watching her with an amused look.

"You're no match for me, Sarah."

"But I have to have my brother back!" She found her voice more steady than she felt.

The King's lips quirk as though he found this amusing. He stepped to one side allowing the scene behind him to take shape. Sarah looked out over the Labyrinth.

"He's there, in the castle," he told her, "Do you still want to look for him?"

"How can he be in that castle, it's only a picture on a screen?" She noticed that, at the bottom of the screen, the option to hit play had become available. The King watched her silently, waiting for her to make her move.

Reluctantly she reached for her controller, which was still plugged into her system. With a moment to ready herself she hit play.

A blinding light exploded once more from the TV causing her to stumble back. She tripped over something on her floor and fell back onto uneven ground. When she opened her eyes she was no long in her bedroom.

The length of the Labyrinth sprawled in front of her as though she were really there. She looked around wildly trying to figure out where she was. As far as she could tell by the long expanses of open ground leading to the gates she truly was standing before the Labyrinth.

"Turn back Sarah," The King's voice came from behind her, "Turn back before it's too late."

She glanced back at him to find him looking gravely upon her. He was taller in person.

A strange new reality started to sink in for Sarah. "I can't," she replied calmly, "I've already hit play. There is no going back now."

"What a pity…" He almost sounded like he meant it.

Sarah sized up her challenge. When she played the game it had only taken her a couple of house to get to the center. This couldn't be much different. After all, in reality should could run faster than her video game character.

"It doesn't look that far." She said confidently.

Suddenly she felt a warm breath against her neck. She flinched when the King spoke right next to her ear.

"It's further than you think," he purred, "And time is short."

Just as quickly as he had appeared he moved away from her, his gaze moving to fall on a long tree beside them on the hill. A large clock appeared from the branches. It took Sarah a moment to realize that there were 13 hours instead of the normal 12. A second hand began to tick from the 13 where both the minute and the hour hand sat.

"You have 13 hours in which to solve the Labyrinth or your baby brother remains here… forever." Slowly the King began to disappear into the surroundings. Before he disappeared completely Sarah heard him whisper, "Suck a pity…"

Sarah turned back to look at him and realized that he and the clock were gone. Her time had already started.

"The Labyrinth…" She mused, looking out over the expanse of turns, "It doesn't look so hard. I guess I'm not getting anywhere by standing here. Well, come on feet!"

She took off at a jogging pace down the hill heading straight towards the gates. The game was officially beginning.


	3. Chapter 3 - Pipsqueak

**Disclaimer:** All rights go to their original owner

 **Chapter 3**

 _Pipsqueak_

As sarah approached the gates to the Labyrinth she realized that she couldn't see any clear way to get inside. Her eyes remained on the castle in the distance until the walls towered over her and she could no longer see it.

She looked both ways along the tall brick walls trying to find a way to get in. There were many vines growing down from the top of the wall that she might have considered using to climb if she didn't know just how unlikely it was to work. There had to be a door somewhere…

In the distance Sarah could hear a sound like a fountain with running water. Curious, she started walking towards it.

As she rounded the corner she realized that the sound she was hearing was in fact a small wrinkled man relieving himself into a pond. Awkwardly she looked the other way.

"Um… excuse me…" She called over her shoulder.

"Oh!" The little man exclaimed, hurrying to zip his pants on, "Excuse _me_!"

He turned around in a hurry to see who it was who had snuck up on him. When his eyes fell on her his face fell into one of annoyance.

"Oh, it's you." He shakes his head and picks up a sprayer, walking away from her without another word.

Sarah was confused over the little man. In the video game you started inside the Labyrinth so she never got the chance to see him. She wondered what purpose he served in being in the game at all.

"Excuse me, I'm trying to get inside this Labyrinth. Can you help me?" She called to him.

But the little man wasn't paying attention. He had moved away with his sprayer, stalking towards a small figure floating through the air. Sarah moved closer to get a better view of the creature and realized it was a tiny woman in a dress with wings sprouting from her back.

"How sweet…" She sighed.

The little man didn't seem to think so. He took aim with his sprayer giving the fairy a full spray in the face.

"Fifty… SEVEN!" He cried as the fairy fell to the ground.

Sarah was absolutely horrified.

"How could you!" She rushed forward, scooping the small fairy up into the palm of her hands, "Poor thing… You monster-AH!"

She dropped the fairy who had proceeded to bite her painfully on the fingers. She looked up at the small man with wide eyes.

"It bit me!" She cried.

"What did you expect fairies to do?" The man asked, irritated.

"I thought they did nice things," She glanced sadly at her injured finger, "Like granting wishes!"

The little man scoffed. "Shows what you know, don't it? They aren't part of the game so they are just bugs. Even if they could grant wishes I wouldn't trust them to do it."

Sarah was starting to understand it a bit. The one wish she had made related the this game got her brother kidnapped by some game designer. But if what the man said is true, that the fairies were bugs since they weren't in the game, then what did that make him?

Before she had the chance to ask him he spotted another fairy approaching.

"Fifty-Eight!" He cried, spraying it just as he did the other.

He shrieked a happy victory, kicking sand over the fallen fairy. Sarah just looked on horrified.

"You're horrible!"

"No I ain't, I'm Hoggle. Who are you?"

"Sarah." She announced proudly.

He only rolled his eyes. "That's what I thought."

Sarah thought about that for a moment. If Higgle, or whatever his name was, knew who she was then he knew she was a part of the game. Maybe he knew how the game worked, since things seemed to be different than they were when she played the game to first time.

"Do you where the door to the Labyrinth is?" She asked him, taking a chance.

"Maybe…" He says, distracted.

"Where is it?"

Sarah tried to follow, keeping her distance in fear of his spray gun. He spots another fairy, running off quickly to catch it and leaving Sarah in his dust.

"I said… where is it?" She breathed, keeping up.

"Where is what?"

"The door!"

"What door?"

Sarah, not at the end of her rope, bunched her hands into her hair to calm herself down. Even still she knew she had to get him to help her otherwise she might never get to start the game let alone save Toby.

"It's impossible asking you anything." She seethed.

"Not if you ask the right questions." He informed her.

Sarah thought about that for a moment.

"How do I get into the Labyrinth?"

"Ah," Hoggle says turning to her finally, "Now that's more like it. You gets in… there!"

He motions to a wall where a small crack develops into a large crack. Suddenly two large doors swing out from the wall revealing the entrance. Sarah smiled widely at the fact that she had finally made it one step further.

Carefully, unsure what to expect, Sarah approached the gates. She placed one hand on the door to feel how sandy it had become for as long as it had been closed. It seemed off to her that a video game could have this much detail to it, even feelings.

"You really goin' in there, are you?" Hoggle asked, nodding towards the door.

"I'm afraid I have to." Sarah shook her head sadly.

Inside the entranceway was no different. The walls became darker as she ventured past the door but she could see no turns as far as she looked. But still it seemed there was a lot to look at that she hadn't noticed while playing the video game.

There were sticks and logs scattered along the ground making it dangerous to walk without looking where you were going. The walls were covered in long hanging vines giving the appearance that no one had been taking care of it for some time.

Sarah stepped into the beginning of the maze with a little discomfort. It didn't look anything like she remembered the game being like. The graphics were much better.

She looked down both directions taking note that there were no turns visible as far as the paths lead.

"Cozy, ain't it?" Hoggle laughed, taking great joy when Sarah jumped at his voice. "So, would you go left… or right?"

Sarah looked up and down both direction, seriously debating which would be best.

"They both look the same." She observed.

Hoggle rolled his eyes. "Well you're not going to get very far."

"Which way would you go?"

"Me?" He seemed surprised by the question, "I wouldn't go either way."

This time it was Sarah's turn to roll her eyes. "If that's all the help you're going to be then you can just leave."

For a moment it looked like he was going to do just that. Then he waved a finger at her and began to move towards her.

"You know what your problem is? You take too many things for granted. Take this Labyrinth for example. Even if you get to the center and win the game, you'll never get out again." He points out.

"That's your opinion." She said.

"No, it's how the game works. You never finished it did you?" He turned his back on her, heading towards the door.

"Of course not. The options at the end were stupid. Besides, my system got fried by the storm."

"Well the game was never meant to have a 'happy ending' for the player. Sure they got their brother back but they couldn't get out again."

"Why not?" Sarah cried, horrified.

"Beats me," He shrugged, "I'm just the gardner. I kill bugs so that the game works properly."

He stepped out of the walls leaving Sarah standing alone. Her anger and fear boiled inside her.

"Thanks for nothing, Hogwart." She called to him.

He spun around and faced her, a growl building in his throat. "It's Hoggle! And don't say I didn't warn you."

With a swing of his hands the doors slammed shut behind him. As soon as they closed they blended into the walls around them effectively sealing Sarah off from the outside world.

Hoggle had sealed her in and now that she was in the Labyrinth the game could start for real.


	4. Chapter 4 - Which is Which?

**Disclaimer:** All rights go to their original owner

 **Chapter 4**

 _Which is Which?_

Sarah took a moment to compose herself. She was inside meaning the actual maze solving part came next. But looking around she couldn't figure out which way she was supposed to go.

She took a few steps in one direction to test the path ahead. What she didn't notice were the eyes growing out of a piece of fungus stuck to the wall. They watched her as she went by, whispering to themselves.

Keeping on walking she took her time stepping over logs and pushing sticks out of her way. Ahead of her the walls all still looked the same. When it was clear nothing was going to change she looked behind her once again.

"What do they mean Labyrinth? There are no turns or corners or anything. It just goes on and on..." She sighed. Hoggle's words came back to her then. "Or maybe it doesn't! Maybe I'm just taking it for granted that it does."

Hoping that by pushing on ahead the walls would eventually change she took off at a run. Admittedly Sarah wasn't the best athlete. Her focus was mainly on video games and not track at school. But she managed to run at a good pace for well over 5 minutes.

But slowly as she grew more and more tired her hopes started to fall. Her feet faltered causing her to trip over a fallen tree.

Frustrated she smacked her fists against the wall, screaming out in anger. She turned and did the same to the wall on her other side, but nothing moved. Defeated, she slid to the ground with her head in her hands.

What sort of stupid game didn't allow you to play? It wasn't fair! If she were in her room playing on her system she would plug her phone into the game and _make_ a path for herself. But she supposed that is what broke the game to begin with.

"'Allo." A voice from beside her called.

She looked up, shocked to hear another person. But from where the voice came from all she could see was a small blue worm with white hair and a red scarf. She looked around for a moment, confused before looking back at the worm.

"Did… did you say hello?" She asked.

"No, I said 'allo," the worm said back, "but that's close enough."

"You're a worm aren't you?" Sarah needed confirmation.

"Yeah, that's right!" The worm said happily.

Sarah thought about that for a moment.

"You don't, by any chance, know the way through this Labyrinth do you?" She asked.

"Who me? Nah, I'm just a worm." He replied.

"Oh…" Sarah said, disappointed.

She should have figured he wouldn't know. After all, a worm wouldn't be able to move as far into the Labyrinth as she needed to go. For all she knew he was programmed not to move from the spot he was in. But still… it was worth a try.

"Come inside, meet the missus." The worm suggested.

"No thank you," Sarah said politely, "But… I have to solve this Labyrinth but there aren't any turns or any openings or anything! It just goes on and on and..."

The worm chuckled kindly. "Well you ain't lookin' right. It's full of openings, you just ain't seein' em."

"Well where are they?" She asked.

"There's one just across there. It's right in front of ya!" The worm told her.

She looked up directly into a solid wall. No matter which way she turned her head the wall continued looking to same. Maybe the worm wasn't programmed right…

"No there isn't." She told him.

"Come inside," The worm insisted, "Have a nice cup of tea."

"But there isn't an opening!" Sarah insisted.

"Of course there is," the worm laughed again, "you try walkin' through it. You'll see what I mean."

Sarah looked at him as though he had gone mad. "What?"

"Go on. Go on then." He urged.

Sarah took a long good look at the wall in case the worm was telling the truth. After all, what would he gain by making her look like a fool?

"That's… just wall. There's no way through."

"Things are not always what they seem in this place. So you can't take anything for granted." The worm laughed.

Hoggles words rang through her head again. Was it really possible?

Slowly she raised her hands out in front of her. There was nothing to lose by giving it a shot. When she started walking forward she expected her hands to come flat against solid stone. Instead, she kept walking and noticed that there in fact wasn't a wall there to begin with.

Just like if she had been altering the code on her phone she was able to walk through the wall with no problem.

"Hey!" She cried victoriously.

On the other side of the wall she could see a new path, lightly and less cluttered than the old one. She smiled, moving to one side of the wall.

"Hey! Hang on!" The worm called to her.

She paused. She hadn't even thanked the worm after all of the help he had given her. Quickly she stepped back into the opening.

"Thank you," she gave the worm a big smile, "That was incredibly helpful."

When she started to walk away again she heard the worm call out, "But don't go that way!"

"What was that?"

"I said, don't go that way. Never go that way!" He warned her.

"Oh," Sarah looked up the direction of the path seeing nothing wrong. Not wanting to doubt the worm she gave him another smile, "Thanks."

What Sarah didn't know was that the worm was right and that he was wrong. One should never go down that path but Sarah certainly should have gone down that path. Because the Goblin King had never finished designing that path meaning there was nothing from stopping her from skipping further into the game.

But sadly Sarah didn't realize it and continued on her own, happy that she had made past another of the game's challenges.

Far off in the castle Jareth the Goblin King returned to his throne, which he had created himself. To the side of the throne sat a chessboard, the pieces slowly moving on their own in time to Sarah's progress. She played as the white pieces and Jareth, of course, played as black. So far the game was even.

The castle, which held the throne room, wasn't anything impressive, though he could have made it into anything he wanted. All around him the Goblins danced happily to their own tune. He had programed them to act as a defense against the players of the game and he put up with them even though they bugged him most of the time.

In the center of the room sat Toby in a crib Jareth had created out of parts of the floor. From the moment he arrived he had not stopped crying.

He sat back in his throne, hooking one leg over the arm and observed the chaos around him.

Every corner of the throne room was packed with small green goblins of every size and variety. Their drunken chatter filled his ears blocking out even the sound of Toby's crying. Chickens roamed around trying to keep out of the grabby hands of the drunken goblins.

Jareth gave a wicked smile. Reality was nothing compared to this blissful entertainment.

He gave a quick glance at Toby, still dressed in his red and white striped onsie, his blond hair tousled, and his teary blue eyes. The poor child held no real interest to him at the moment. But he liked to think how useful he would be as an assistant in the game when he grew up. That lead him to his second issue.

A glance at the clock, hung grandiosely from a tree rooted in the room, told him that Sarah still had nine hours to beat his game. Every moment he had to fight himself from taking a look at her progress. No one had posed a challenge to him before. Then again, no game had ever been so challenging before.

From the moment he spotted her green eyes peering back at him through the screen, filled with determination matched by few others, he knew he had to challenge her. Even sitting in the safety of his throne room he knew she posed him a threat simply by existing within the plane he himself had created.

He closed his eyes and allowed the vision of her face swim through his mind. She would surely give him a challenge that he deserved.

His daydream of the girl in the white blouse with the green eyes was shattered by the escalating chaos. He needed something to keep his guards occupied while he decided on his next move.

"How about we listen to some music, yes?" He drawled.

The goblins around him froze, waiting to see what came next. With a wave of his hand the game generated a stereo system with speakers large enough to drown out even the loudest of goblins. All of his subjects began to cheer.

A song began to play allowing him some time to watch his chess game. Sarah was doing very well for the situation she was in… He would see how long she could keep it up.

All this while the music played.

"You remind me of the babe…"

Down in the Labyrinth Sarah had found herself in a whole new section of the maze. Instead of only two walls and one path she was now faced with hundreds of walls with many different paths to choose.

The walls were lower this time, and lighter in colour. Over the tops of the walls, rising on a hill, Sarah could see the castle far off in the distance. Seeing it only strengthened her resolve to get there in the time she had left.

As the corners and turns became more and more complicated Sarah started to get clever. One thing she always carried on her, on those rare occasions when she left the house, was a tube of lipstick. Though she almost never wore it, it was plenty useful to draw little arrows on the tiles to show which direction she had gone in. It was very clever if she did say so herself.

But what Sarah couldn't notice, as she often didn't, was the little men that came out of the ground after she had passed. She would never know who these men were or what purpose they served. Each time she drew an arrow and moved on they would pop out to switch the arrows so that they were facing another direction.

Deeper still into the Labyrinth Sarah moved thinking of how nice it would be to be back in her bedroom playing her games. It wasn't that a real game wasn't fun, which it really wasn't, but when your baby half-brother's life was in danger it took the adventure part of the game to a new limit.

She rounded a corner hoping to see something new besides the walls. A short dead end greeted her.

With a sigh she turned back, looking to her mark to show which directions she had already gone. What she found was the mark that she had drawn only moments ago was facing the opposite way. She looked around trying to locate the offender.

"Someone's been changing me marks!" She cried, tossing her useless lipstick away, "What a terrible place this is! It's not fair…"

"That's right, it's not fair." A voice called to her.

"But that's only the half of it!" Another voice chimed in.

She whirled around to see two thin man with bushy mustaches hanging upside down from two different colour shields. To her surprise two more heads popped out from above the shields, looking exactly the same as the men hanging from the bottom.

Glad to finally see something new, but still angry with the men, she approached them quickly.

"This was a dead end a minute ago." She accused.

"No," said one of the men, "That's the dead end behind you."

She turned quickly to find that they were right. Somehow she had gotten herself all turned around.

"It keeps changing!" She cried, "What am I supposed to do?"

"Well the only way out of here is to try one of these doors."

One of the men on the blue shield poked his head out from underneath. "One of the doors leads to the center of the Labyrinth and the other one leads to-"

"Duh-duh-duh-dum!" The others cry.

"CERTAIN DEATH!" The man finishes.

"Oh!" All four say together.

Sarah looked at both doors, seeing no difference besides the colours. "Well which one is which?"

"We can't tell you." The man from the bottom told her.

"Why not?" She said, pouting.

"Well, uh…"

"We don't know!" The second bottom man answered, "But they do"

The men from the top of the shield suddenly popped their heads out, looking nervously in Sarah's direction.

"Oh, then I'll ask them." She said, in a better mood.

"Uh, no, you can't ask us." One said.

"You can only ask one of us." Said the other, "It's in the rules."

Oh course there would be rules, Sarah nodded, this is a game after all.

"And I should warn you that one of us always tells the truth, and one of us always lies."

"That's real too, he's the liar." The blue one accused.

"No I'm not," yelled the red one, "I tell the truth!"

"Oh, what a lie." Said the blue.

The other men snickered at Sarah's predicament. She thought about it for a moment, recalling a riddle she had once heard that might help her in the situation. It didn't make sense to her when she was 15 but now she thought she might make sense of it.

"Okay," she approached the red man on the left, "Answer yes or no. Would he," she pointed to the blue man, "tell me that this door leads to the castle?"

The man ducked into his shield, whispering to the bottom man and the blue man to his right. When he popped his head out again he looked uncertainly at Sarah.

"Yes?" He answered.

"Then," she looked at the doors in front of her, "That door leads to the castle and this door leads to certain death."

"Oh!" The bottom man cry.

"How do you know?" The red man asks, "He could be telling the truth."

"Then you wouldn't be. So if you told me that he said yes, then I know the answer is no."

"But I could be telling the truth!" He insists.

"But then he would be lying. So if you told me that he said yes, then the answer would still be no." She explained.

"Wait a minute," the man said calling a timeout to talk to the man beside him, "Is that right?"

"I don't know," he laughed, "I've never understood it!"

All of the men start laughing again. But Sarah was determined now.

"No, it's right. I figured it out. I could never do it before! I must be getting smarter."

She hopped up on the step to the right waiting for the men to step away. When they moved from her path she pushed the door open and saw a clear path leading towards the Castle. She smiled triumphantly to herself.

"This is a piece of cake!" She announced.

But as soon as her feet touched the floor it gave out below her.

With a scream she tumbled out of sight and the trap door slammed shut behind her.


	5. Chapter 5 - Bad Memories

**Disclaimer:** All rights go to their original owner

 **Chapter 5**

 _Bad Memories_

Sarah screamed as her legs kicked in open air. Something began brushing up against her and she flailed out at it, trying to grab hold. Her hand hit something solid and suddenly her fall came to an end.

But still she hung, who knows how far, above the ground with only a sliver of light filtering in from the hole above her. She looked around herself to see what she had grabbed onto only to realize that it was a hand. In fact, all around her were hundreds of green hands, each grasping onto her to keep her from falling.

She knew that being held by hundreds of hands was never a good thing, especially when they were getting as comfortable with her as they were.

"Stop it!" She cried, trying to push them away, "Help!"

Suddenly a group of the hands moved from the wall, forming a face with their entwined finger.

"What do you mean help?" The fingers moved in perfect sync with the voice as a mouth, "We are helping!"

"We're Helping Hands!" Announced another fingered face.

"You're hurting." Sarah informed them, referring to several fingers pressing sharply into her side.

"Would you like us to let go?" They asked.

Before she could answer the grip on her loosened allowing her to slip through their grasp and continue her fall.

"No!" She screaming, trying to cling to the hands.

Once again the hands caught her, holding her in more of a cradle this time. She sighed with relief that she was safe once again.

"Well, come on, which way?" The face asked her.

"Which way?" She asked.

"Up or down?"

"Oh…" She looked beneath her but saw nothing but darkness. There was no telling how far down she would go or how injured she would become when she got there. But looking up she thought that there wasn't much chance of getting back up there without being jerked around by the hands. Either way she had little choices.

"Come on, come on!" A face yelled at her.

"We haven't got all day!"

"Well it's a big decision for her." One spoke up in her favour.

"Which was would you like to go?" Another asked her nicely.

"Well," she said looking down once again, "Since I'm pointed that way I might as well go down."

"She chose DOWN!" A face yelled, several other hands joining to give the signal to drop her.

"She chose down?" A face snickered.

"Was that wrong?" Sarah cried, suddenly very unsure of her decision.

"Too late now!"

All of the faces around her started to laugh as the hands let her go. She reached out to try to grab onto them but found that they wriggled out of her grasp at the last second.

Suddenly she felt that there were no more hands around her as she slipped through a small hole and fell into a dark room lit by only a small spotlight where she came in. Her knees hit the ground first taking most of the impact. But once she took a moment she realized that she was perfectly okay.

Above her the small hole was closed by the hands dropping her into utter darkness.

She sat very still, her face blank, trying to figure out what she was to do next.

On a small screen Jareth observed Sarah's face as she sat in almost complete darkness. Her green eyes had become a dull grey.

"She's in the oubliette." He observed.

Around him the goblins roared with laughter, unable to see the screen which Jareth held so close to himself. But he did not laugh with them. Instead his eyes grew dark at the creatures running around before him.

"Shut up!" He commanded.

The entire room fell silent, watching him.

"She should not have gotten as far as the oubliette. She should have given up by now!"

"She'll never give up." One of the goblins declared.

"Won't she?" He said darkly, "The dwarf is about to lead her back to the beginning. She'll soon give up once she realizes she has to start all over again."

Jareth laughed at this, his eyes remaining on Sarah. Around him silence followed, the goblins not sure what to do.

"Well? Laugh!" He commanded.

The room erupted into laughter once again, Jareth joining in after a moment. On his screen Sarah sat unaware of his plans.

In pitch darkness Sarah listened for any sign that she wasn't alone. At first she heard nothing but the sound of her own heavy breathing.

Then, behind her, she heard scraping along one of the rocks.

"Who's there?" She demanded with a shaky voice.

"Me." The voice announced, striking a match to reveal Hoggle standing in the small sealed off room with her.

"Oh," she sighed with relief, "It's you."

Hoggle moved awkwardly around the room to light a candle. He didn't seem happy at all to be in her presence despite the fact that he had clearly come to her rescue.

"Yes well, I knew you were going to get into trouble the moment I saw you. So I've come to give you a hand."

Sarah finally became aware of her surroundings as the light from the candle filled the room. It was nothing short of a dungeon. The walls were damp rock with chains and shackles hanging from the ceiling. But from what she could see the walls were completely bare, save a small candle sitting on a ledge that Hoggle had just lit.

"Oh, you're looking around now, aren't you," he said sarcastically, "I suppose you've noticed there ain't no doors. Just the hole. This is an oubliette. Labyrinth's full of em."

"Really? How do you know that?" Sarah asked, still absorbed in looking around.

"Don't act so smart. You don't even know what an oubliette is, do you?" He challenged.

"Do you?"

"Yes. It's a place to put people… to FORGET about them." He said darkly, "Now what you need to do is get out of here. It just so happens that I know a shortcut out of the whole Labyrinth from here."

Sarah let that sink in. He knew a shortcut… out of the Labyrinth?

"No!" She cried, "I'm not giving up now. I've come so far!

She looked around her, grasping at anything she could to try to remain calm. Slowly she lowered herself until she was fully sitting on the ground. She couldn't give up. Toby was depending on her to save his life. If she gave up there was no chance of her ever making it to the castle on time.

"No." she said again, "I'm doing… okay."

"Oh course you are," Hoggle said sympathetically, "But it gets a lot worse from here on in."

Sarah looked into his wrinkled face to where he had placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. Her eyebrows creased in confusion.

"Why are you so concerned about me?" She asked.

His hand shot away from her shoulder and he backed away.

"I just am, that's all," he stammered. "Nice young girl… Terrible black oubliette."

As he gestured around at the walls around them Sarah noticed several items dangling from his belt. Looking a little closer she realized that they were microchips, wires, and other electronic throwaways.

"You like technology, don't you?" She asked.

Hoggle, noticing her look, moved his hand so it was covering his treasures. "Why?"

She thought on her feet.

"If you help me solve the Labyrinth… I'll give you this." From her back pocket she produced one of the microchips she had pulled from her drawer earlier that night. She noticed Hoggle's eyes glued to the small treasure in her hand. "You like it, don't you?"

Hoggle pulled away, realizing his mistake. "Meh… so-so."

"Oh," Sarah said dramatically, "Okay then."

As she went to put the chip back into her pocket Hoggle started to panic.

"Uh… I'll tell you what. You give me the chip, and I'll show you the way out of the Labyrinth!" He offered.

"You were going to do that anyway!"

"Yes, well, that's what would make it a particularly nice gesture on your part-"

"No," she insisted, "I'll tell you what...If you can't take me to the center then take me as far as you can and I'll do the rest on my own."

Hoggle took a moment to look hesitantly at the chip she offered to him. "What is that anyway?"

"1G." She answered as though it meant nothing.

Hoggle's eyes lit up as he looked at the chip in her hand. "Now.. I ain't promisin' nothin' but.. I'll take you as far as I can go. After that you're on your own. Right?"

"Right!"

"Right." He assured, taking the chip from her as though it were his prized possession, "Oh, 1G…"

He hobbled over to a wall where a large cloth had been laid out over the floor. Throwing it back he revealed a wooden door hidden under the dirt.

Sarah was confused as to why a door would just be lying on the floor. Hoggle picked the door up, leaning it against the wall, and pulled a key out of his pocket to place in the keyhole. But when he threw the door open several pots and pans spilled out onto the ground at his feet.

"Bleh!" He cried, "Broom closet."

He shut the door and gave Sarah an embarrassed look.

"Can't be right all the time."

He pulled the door from the wall again, flipping it over so that the handle was on the opposite side. This time when he opened the door it revealed a hallway leading deeper into the cave. A smile grew on Sarah's face when she saw it.

"This is it. Come on, then…" Hoggle said, leading her through the doorway and out of the dreadful oubliette.

Sarah followed out into a narrow sanding hallway with high rock ceilings. All of the walls were lined with large rock faces that didn't seem to notice them as they walked past.

"DON'T GO ON!" One of the faces called in a booming voice, causing Sarah to jump.

Then the rest joined in a chorus as she walked past them.

"Go back while you still can."

"This is not the way."

"Take heed, and go no further…"

"Beware… BEWARE…"

"Soon, it will be too late."

While the voices startled Sarah, Hoggle took little notice of them. "Don't pay any attention to them. They're just False Alarms. You get a lot of them in the game, especially when you are on the right path!"

"Oh no you're not!" One cried at him.

"Oh shut up." Hoggle said back.

"Sorry," it said quickly, "Just doin' my job."

They moved on together.

"Beware!" One yelled dramatically, "For the path you w-"

"Just… forget it!" Hoggle told it, frustrated now.

"Oh please!" The rock begged, "I haven't said it for such a long time!"

Sarah gave Hoggle a shrug. He turned back to the rock with a roll of his eyes.

"Fine, but don't expect a big reaction."

Oh no no, of course not," the face cleared his throat, "For the path you will take will lead to certain destruction! Thank you very much."

As the face was giving his speech Sarah noticed a round crystal rolling past her feet further in the direction they were heading. It took her a moment to recognize it as the crystal that had been the handle for the Goblin King's cane.

"Uh oh…" Hoggle whispered, recognizing it as well.

They both took off after the crystal knowing that wherever it lead would lead to no good. The crystal lead them through the cave until it stopped in front of a small shriveled man sitting at a crossroads. When it hopped into his hat he tilted his head to one side quizzically.

"Ah. What have we here?" He asked.

"Uh… nothing!" Hoggle replied quickly.

"Nothing?" The man asked, his voice becoming deeper, "Nothing?"

Suddenly the man stood, the pixels that cloaked him falling away to reveal the Goblin King standing before them. Sarah took an involuntary step back at the sight of him. Hoggle simply began to tremble.

"Nothing, tra la la?" He mocked them.

"Your Majesty…." Hoggle said in a shaky voice, "What a nice surprise."

The King gave him a toothy grin. Sarah noticed that the King had changed outfits since she had last seen him. His black pants had been replaced with beige ones that covered his shoes nicely. He had chosen to keep the black blouse but had undone the top three buttons giving Sarah a nice view of his chest. Sarah looked away quickly, aware that she was staring.

But the King took no notice. He was too busy enjoying the way Hoggle writhed under his powerful glare.

"Hello, Hedgewart." He said at last.

"Hogwart." Sarah corrected him quickly.

"Hoggle…" Hoggle growled, giving Sarah a hurt look.

"Hoggle," the King corrected, rolling his eyes, "Could it be that you're helping this girl?"

"Helping? In what sense?" Hoggle asked innocently.

The King advanced on him, backing him quickly into a corner. "In the sense that you're leading her towards the castle." He growled.

"No, no, I was leading her back to the beginning, your Majesty!" He insisted.

Jareth cast a glance over to Sarah, anticipating her reactions. Her response was everything he had hoped for.

"What?" She cried, her eyes growing wide.

Hoggle took a deep breath, preparing himself for what was to come.

"You see, I told her I was gunna help her solve the Labyrinth, but really I was-"

"What is that small chip on your wrist?" Jareth spoke, noticing the small microchip Sarah gave him sticking out of the cable bracelet.

Quickly Hoggle tried to hide his wrist behind his back. But when he realized that the King had already seen the chip he began stammering for an answer.

"This.. Oh this! Now, where did this come from?"

"Higgle-"

"Hoggle!"

"Yes," the King said, "If I thought, for one moment, that you were betraying me I would be forced to suspend you head first into the bog of eternal corruption."

Sarah tilted her hand in confusion. The name meant nothing to her but, for a video game system it didn't sound like a good thing. Hoggle agreed with her on that.

"No your Majesty!" He begged, falling to his knees in front of him, "Not the bog of corruption!"

"Oh _yes_ Hoggle!" He declared, kicking him over.

Then he turned a dazzling smile in Sarah's direction. This time it was her turn to be backed in a corner as the King advanced on her.

Her back came up against the wall and before she could find a good exit strategy the King placed his slender fingers on the wall on either side of her head, effectively trapping her. Their gazes locked as he towered over her. His smile grew at her uncomfort.

"And you Sarah," He drawled, "How are you enjoying my game?"

Sarah didn't know why she said it. There may have been a part of her that didn't want to King to have any advantage. Or maybe she just couldn't form any other words under the King's heated gaze.

All she knew was the next thing that came out of her mouth was, "It's a piece of cake."

Hoggle realize her mistake before she did, his hands coming up to cover his eyes. The King's eyes suddenly grew dark and he drew away from her.

"Really?" Jareth sounded intrigued, "Then how about upping the stakes, hm?"

He reached out towards the center of the tunnel where the elegant clock appeared from the pixels. With a finger he motioned to the hands and they began to move faster. Sarah watched in horror as the time she had left slipped away.

"That's not fair!" She cried.

Jareth looked at her curiously. "You say that so often… I wonder what your base of comparison is."

He took a few steps away from them into the shadows. The tunnel behind him seemed like a black hole in the dim lighting.

"So my Labyrinth is a piece of cake? Let's see how you deal with little glitch." In his hands the crystal appears.

He turns and tosses the crystal, disappearing as he does so. There is no time to worry where he went. Just as the crystal disappears, out of the pixels a large machine appears with sharp bits flailing out in front of it. It took up the entire tunnel giving Sarah and Hoggle nowhere to avoid it, which was a problem because it was coming towards them quickly.

"Oh no!" Hoggle cries, "The Cleaners!"

"What?" Sarah could feel the ground beneath her shaking as the machine got closer.

"Run!" Hoggle took off without waiting to see if Sarah followed his lead.

She didn't need to be told twice. Both took off running as fast as they could down the tunnel away from the monstrous machine hurtling towards them. Sarah being taller than Hoggle got ahead of him quickly but stopped momentarily to help him when he tripped.

At the speed they were going it wouldn't have been hard to outrun the machine. But there time was running out.

Up ahead of them Sarah noticed that the path was blocked off with a sturdy metal gate. They ran against it, Hoggle crying out.

"The cleaners, the bog, you sure got his attention!" Hoggle sobbed.

Sarah turned her back and watched as her doom sped towards her.


	6. Chapter 6 - Up and Up

**Disclaimer:** All rights go to their original owner

Note: This is a smaller chapter. Don't blame me, I am using the novelization as a guide and this is how long the chapter is.

 **Chapter 6**

 _Up and Up_

As Hoggle banged against the gate hoping to get it to open Sarah was looking for any other way out. To her left she noticed that there was something not right about the wall… almost as if it wasn't designed properly.

"Here!" She yelled, rushing to the part of the wall and giving it a push. It felt solid.

"There's nothing there." He insisted.

"No, there's a weakness, I can see it."

If Hoggle said anything else she didn't hear it. She was trying to think of a way to make the wall disappear. If she had her phone she would pull up her app, type in a simple code, and the wall would just disappear. But now she was in the game… part of the game itself… If the King could alter the code from within the game then maybe she could as well.

She placed her hand against the solid wall and begin to think. She pictured the dimensions of the wall, the brief flash she had seen, and the code she would have put into her phone had she the chance. Each number, letter, and symbol flashed before her eyes as though she were moving it all from her into the wall. And then the wall was simply gone.

"I did it-" Hoggle pushed her from behind causing them both to tumble out of the way of the machine into the safety of the hidden cavern behind the wall.

They both watched as the machine that had nearly run them down continued on its way down the tunnel, destroying the door that blocked their way like it was nothing. As soon as it was out of sight they both fell back, breathing a sigh of relief.

"How did you do that?" Hoggle asked, trying to regain his breath.

"I just did what the King does. He makes a code while he is in the game. I saw that the wall had a weakness, so I did the same thing… only I destroyed something instead of making it. It's easier that way." She explained.

"That's… cool." He got up and looked around the small area, noticing a ladder in the empty room, "Ah, this is what we need. A ladder. Follow me."

Sarah began to get up. Then the events that had transpired before they were both nearly killed came back to her. Mainly, the things that Hoggle had said.

"How can I trust you now that I know you were taking me back to the beginning of the game?" She asked him.

He was already starting up the latter. "I wasn't. I told him that just to throw him off the scent."

But Sarah was still doubtful. After all, Hoggle was a creature in the game created by the King. His programming made it so he was loyal to the King no matter what, unless he was corrupted. That didn't seem likely otherwise she would be able to see it just by looking at him.

"Hoggle, how can I believe anything you say?" She called up to him.

"Well," he continued climbing, "Let me put it this way, what choice have you got?"

Sarah saw no other choice since the latter was the only way out of the caves so she said, "You're right," and began climbing after him.

"The thing is you have to see it from my position," he called down to her as he continued to climb, "I'm a coward and Jareth scares me."

"What kind of position is that?"

"No position, that's my point. And you wouldn't be so brave if you'd ever saw the bog of eternal corruption it… it-" His foot on one of the rungs broke away sending it soaring down the shaft. Thankfully he was able to keep his hold on the rung above saving him from tumbling down into Sarah below him.

"Is it really that bad?" Sarah enquired, not seeing anything overly scary in corruption.

"Believe me, it's bad. But the worst thing is you so much as put a foot in the bog of corruption and your code is messed up forever. You'll never get it back." He shivered at the thought.

Sarah thought about that. If a code were corrupted then the whole character would be off. There would be glitches at the least or the character could fall apart forever. Hoggle might only be a character in a videogame but he had enough sense to not want to disappear. Sarah never figured characters to have feelings.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Hoggle ahead of her. "Ah, here we go then."

She looked up just in time to see Hoggle throw back a wooden hatch letting the sunny light of day stream down through the shaft. Wincing Sarah had to focus to keep going while her eyes adjusted to the light.

When she finally stepped out onto solid ground again she took a deep breath of fresh air in to clear her mind. Once again she had escaped one of the King's traps. Now she was once again another step closer to saving Toby.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** All rights go to their original owner

 **Chapter 7**

 _The Meaning of Life_

While Sarah was busy enjoying her freedom from the dark tunnels, Hoggle was slowly starting to move away from her.

"Here we are then. You're on your own from here on in." He said.

"What?" Sarah demanded angrily.

"I told you I would take you as far as I could go." He laughed nervously.

Sarah advanced on him. "You little cheat… You nasty little cheat!"

"Now, don't try to embarrass me," Hoggle looked away, "I've got no pride."

Maybe not, thought Sarah, but there is something you would sell your loyalty for.

"Oh yeah?" She moved quickly and snatched his bag full of technology he had hanging from his belt.

"Hey!" He yelled, "Them's my treasure! Give them back. Give them back to me!"

"Nope!" She held the bag higher in the air where she knew he couldn't reach it.

He hopped around beneath her trying desperately to get his treasure back to no avail. She secured them tightly to her own belt with the knowledge that he still wouldn't be able to reach them there. Now she had a way to keep him with her until he filled his promise.

"Now, which was goes towards the castle." She observed the distance noticing the castle towering above the walls.

"Them's my rightful property… It's not fair!"

"No, it's not."

Sarah let that thought sink in for a moment. It wasn't fair. She knew that. After all, the bag didn't belong to her. But she took it because it needed to be done. The game not working, being trapped in the Labyrinth, having Toby taken away, her time limit being decreased, even Hoggle's treasure… none of it was fair. But it had to be done. That was life.

"But that's the way it is." She said to herself.

Hoggle seemed to ponder this for a moment, though he certainly wasn't happy about it. While he was distracted Sarah noticed an old man with a strange hat slowly making his way into the area they were standing. He took a seat at a stone chair.

Sarah quickly moved over to him.

"Excuse me, please," she said pleasantly, "Can you help me?"

"Oh, a young girl!" The man said happily.

"Woo, woo, woo!" His strange hat said.

"And who is this?" The old man glanced down at Hoggle suspiciously.

Sarah reached out to put a protective hand on Hoggle's shoulder. "He's my friend."

Hoggle glanced up at her with shocked eyes. After all that had been through he was surprised she would consider him anything but an enemy. Was she planning something against him that he didn't know about?

"Ah, yes… And how can we help you, young woman?" The man asks slowly.

"I'm looking… that is, I need to get to the castle at the center of the Labyrinth, can you help me?" She asks, choosing her words carefully as Hoggle had told her to do before entering the game.

"Hm…" The man said thoughtfully, "You need to get to the castle…"

"How's that for brain power!" His hat cried.

"Be quiet!" The man said. "Sometimes, the way forward, is also the way back."

"Ah, will you listen to this crap." The hat rolled his eyes.

The man shouted at his hat. "Will you please be quiet!"

"Oh, ok!"

"Ok?"

"Yes…."

"You see-"

"Sorry."

The old man sighed with frustration, giving the hat a moment in case it had something more to say. After a moment of silence he said, "Finished?"

"Yes." The hat sighs.

"So you see, young woman, sometimes it seems like we aren't getting anywhere when in fact…"

"We are!" The hat finished quickly.

"We are…" The man agreed.

Sarah looked around at her surroundings unsure which way she had come from and which way she was supposed to go. She could see the castle in the distance and couldn' see any benefit from going back.

"Well, I'm not getting anywhere at the moment" She observed.

"Ha!" The bird cackled, "Join the club!"

Sarah looked to the old man to see if he could give her any more to go on. But when she turned to him she found that he was fast asleep. Hoggle just rolled his eyes, unsurprised at the behavior of the old man.

"Well, I think that's your lot…" The hat told her. The old man's arm moved out, as if on its own, holding a small container with a slot in the top. "Please, leave a contribution in the little box"

She couldn't figure out why she should have to donate something to them when they did nothing to help her at all. But since they were asking, and she didn't feel comfortable turning them down, she decided to comply.

Off hand she couldn't think of anything on her to give up. She certainly didn't have any money. Instantly she looked down at the bag of goodies she had tied around her belt.

Hoggle didn't miss the look. "Don't you dare! Them's mine!"

Her hands flinched away from the goods. That didn't leave her with much. All she had was a useless cable to she TV she had shoved in her back pocket.

"Well… I get guess I can spare this." She dropped the cord into the box, much to Hoggle's absolute horror.

With that done the duo so no reason to stick around. Sarah began walking in the direction towards the castle. Hoggle saw his treasures moving away and decided to follow as well.

"You didn't have to give him that," Hoggle insisted, "He didn't tell you nothin'."

The hat watched them go with narrowed eyes.

"There goes a couple of suckers." He said. The old man continued snoring loudly making the hat sigh. "Ah… It's so stimulating being your hat.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** All rights go to their original owner

 **Chapter 8**

 _A Very Loud Voice_

Sarah and Hoggle continued on their way through the maze. For a while they were silent, taking each twist and turn with little thought to it. Finally Hoggle had too many questions on his mind to stay silent.

"Why did you say that about me being your friend?" He asked.

"Because you are," Sarah insisted, "You may not be much of a friend but you're the only one I have in this place."

Hoggle thought about that for a moment. He supposed it must be true. Sarah was new to the game and didn't know who she could trust and who was really on her side. And Hoggle knew better than anyone that Sarah shouldn't trust anyone, not even him. As long as Jareth held control of the game and the characters he created Sarah would never be safe.

"Did you hear that?" Sarah asked suddenly, stopping both of them in their tracks.

On the other side of the hedge one of the guards walked around, listening. Hoggle looks around wildly knowing that as they get closer to the castle, which he knew they were, there would be more and more guards searching for Sarah.

But the guard never noticed them. He moved on deeper into the maze looking for Sarah and anyone else who might be with her.

"No, it's nothing…" Sarah shakes her head and they both move along.

Hoggle could feel an odd warm feeling creeping through his chest.

"I like that," he told her, "I ain't never been nobody's friend before."

Suddenly a shattered roar filled the air from ahead along with the paths pixels scrambling for a brief moment. Hoggle doesn't need to be told twice that the path ahead wasn't one to be taken under any cost.

"Good bye!" He cried, trying to run away.

But Sarah was faster and snagged his arm as he ran, trying to stop him. "Wait a minute!"

"Keep the stuff!"

"Are we friends are not?"

"No, no we aren't! I look out for myself, like everyone! Hoggle is Hoggle's friend!" He finally succeeded in breaking away, giving her one last nasty look before taking off leaving her standing there dumbstruck.

"Hoggle!" She cried, "You coward!"

She turned back, betrayed once again. But there was no time to feel sad. There was something ahead that was standing in her way from getting closer to the castle.

"Well I'm not afraid. Thing are not always what they seem here."

The ground in front of her shifted again forcing her to take a hesitant step back. Then she held her head up and stepped ahead.

At first when she came around the corner she wasn't sure what she was seeing. There were several small goblins dressed in armour standing around a small clearing. In the center stood a statue in the form of a large beast with fangs and horns, frozen in stone on a small crumbling pedestal.

The goblin guards poked at the statue with long spears. Each time they struck the monster statue the ground would shake as it had before splitting the pixels apart for a brief moment.

Sarah didn't know what to do about the problem. The goblins were set on poking the statue and standing in her way.

Then she saw that there was a glitch in the system, just like there was in the tunnels, on the side of the statue. If the statue was the one controlling the pixel spasms then that might mean…

Behind the goblins the pixels were increasingly starting to dissolve. Each of the guards was on the edge without noticing how close they were. That gave Sarah an idea.

"Hey, you!" She called loudly.

All at once their heads shot up in her direction. Straight away they begin to freak out and run in different directions to try to catch her. Just as she had hoped each fell through the pixels behind them, screaming curses as they went.

Strangely as soon as they had all disappeared into the pixel void the ground became solid again. But she noticed that the statue continued to waver.

Confident that the goblin guards wouldn't be causing her any more trouble (for the moment) she left her so that she could get another look at the statue. It didn't look like it belonged in the clearing, not so far away from everything else. And why would the King make a statue of a monster to begin with?

Sarah pressed her hands against the cool rock. Yes, she could feel a program behind the outer surface. Someone, she could guess who, had covered the program with a sealing code to deactivate it. The code itself wasn't actually finished yet.

Concentrating like she had done in the tunnels Sarah began trying to complete the code. It was difficult for her to try this since in the tunnel she had just been destroying an uncompleted code. She had never created or fixed a code on her own before.

But she had to try.

She imagined the monster in front of her moving around, a code guiding him. She didn't know what the code was but the numbers came to her anyway. They swirled around in her head like magic before flowing out her hands into the creature in front of her.

When suddenly the solid stone became softer, then began to move, Sarah flinched back. She opened her eyes to see the large red creature moving around, confused at where it was. Then it let out an almighty roar.

"Stop that!" Sarah told it.

It looked down at her with two brown doe eyes.

"Is that any way to treat someone who is trying to help you? Don't you want me to help you down?" She asked.

The monster gave her a sad look. "Ludo… down…"

"Ludo, is that your name?" Sarah looked up at the surprisingly friendly monster.

"Ludo…" He confirmed.

Sarah reached up to help Ludo down. He hopped down with an ground shaking thump. He gave her a wide smile reminding Sarah of a puppy.

"I'm Sarah."

"Sarah…" He tested the word out. Then he smiled widely, "Sarah friend!"

He started towards her as if to give her a beard (or monster) hug. Sarah took a quick step back, unsure how well a big hug like that would go.

"Wait a minute, I want to ask you something, Ludo!" She stopped him.

"What?"

"I need to get to the castle at the center of the Labyrinth. Do you know the way?"

Ludo thought about it for a moment. Sarah was his new friend and, for all purposes, his creator. But for as long as the game had existed he had been frozen in stone, abandoned by his original creator because his code made him too nice.

Sadly, Ludo looked away from Sarah. "Uh… no…"

"You don't know either, huh?" She sighed.

"No…"

Sarah looked around at the walls surrounding her, blocking her view of the castle. Once again it seemed she had hit a dead end. She had a new friend to help her but she had lost Hoggle, the only one who had never outright told her he didn't know the way to the castle.

"I wonder if there is anyone who knows how to get to the castle." Sarah wondered out loud.

In another part of the Labyrinth Hoggle ran on his own. Maneuvering the maze with an expert's touch he tried to make his way back to the gates of the maze. Through the wave of the game he felt something change and stopped with a fowl look.

"Get through the Labyrinth? Get through the Labyrinth! One things for certain; she'll never get through the Labyrinth."

And with that he turned and headed back through the Labyrinth. And with each step he brought himself further away from the girl who had the power to change the game itself.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** All rights go to their original owner

 **Chapter 9**

 _Another Door Opens_

Back in the clearing Sarah and Ludo were still trying to decide what to do next. All around them there were walls and the only other option they could see was to head back into the maze. When she turned back to look at the wall she realized something was different.

"Hey, when did they get there?" She asked, referring to the two doors that had suddenly appeared on the wall.

On each of the two doors there were knockers in the shape of faces that extended from the wall as though they were real. On the left side the face had the knocker going through both ears. On the right side the face had the knocking stuck in its mouth.

The two approached the doors curiously. The doors would certainly lead them both closer to the castle if they could get through.

"What do you think, Ludo? Which of these two ugly characters should we pick?" Sarah asked.

Ludo said nothing. Both of them just observed the doors. Sarah remembered the riddle she had faced with the four men before and how one of them could have lead to her death.

"It's very rude the stare!" The face with the knocker in his ears yelled.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Sarah flinched, "I was just wondering what door to choose…"

"What!?"

"In mnnmm whe wawmn wo mnn." The one with the knocker in its mouth mumbled.

"Don't talk with your mouth full!" The left yelled.

"Mmmmn nw mnnsn-"

Sarah quickly walked over to the right door where the face was mumbling to her.

"Wait, I can't understand what you're saying." She pulled the wrung out from his mouth so that she could hear him better.

"Oh, oh oh!" The face moved his mouth around in bliss. "It is so good to get that thing out."

"What were you saying?" Sarah asked again.

"I said it's no good asking him, he's deaf as a post."

"Mumble, mumble, mumble, you're a wonderful conversational companion!" The deaf knocker called back.

"You can talk, all you do is moan."

"No good. Can't hear you."

The talking knocker sighed in frustration. Sarah looked from door to door, trying to figure out what to do next. The last doors didn't talk to each other the way these ones did. And it didn't seem like the King would put more than one of the same puzzle in a location. But still, she had to be sure what their aim was.

"Where do these doors lead?" She asked the one who could hear.

"Search me," The knocker laughed, "We're just the knockers!"

Sarah just looked around. Without knowing what was past the door she might just walk into a trap. She wouldn't put it past the King to pull something like that on her.

But… she didn't have to actually go through the door right? She could open both doors, take a look inside, and if she didn't like what she saw she could just take the other door. This time she would play it safe!

Since the talking knocker didn't know what was on the other side of his door then it might not be good. So she decided to try the deaf knockers door. But when she pushed on the door it wouldn't open.

"How do I get through?"

"Huh?!" The deaf one yelled.

It was the other that answered in a cryptic voice. "Knock, and the door shall open."

"Oh," Sarah said cheerfully. Then she noticed that Ludo had taken the knocker she had pulled from the face and had put it in his mouth. She giggled and shook her head. "Ludo…"

Reaching out she took the knocker from Ludo's mouth. When she turned to place it back in the face's mouth she found that he didn't want it.

"No way, I don't want that thing back in my mouth!" He cried.

"Come on," Sarah insisted, "I wanna knock."

"Doesn't want his ring back in his mouth, does he? Can't say I blame him." The deaf knocker said to her.

But the face only made a noise in protest, refusing to open it's mouth. Sarah thought fast. The face was breathing heavily through its nose giving her an opportunity to make her move. Quickly she struck, seizing his nose and holding it closed so that he had no choice but to breath through his mouth.

He had no hands to fend her off. In a minute his metal began to turn white with strain. Finally he couldn't hold his breath any longer and let out a rough breath allowing Sarah the time to shove the rung back in his mouth.

Right away he began to grumble. Sarah used the knocker to knock on the door, which swung open before her.

"Sorry." She told the knocker.

He just grumbled a response.

When the door swung open Sarah could see a thick swampy forest beyond. Behind her Ludo seemed uncertain whether it was the right path to take. But Sarah thought that the forest looked promising.

Hesitantly she took a step through the door to take a look. Ludo followed quickly behind her. As soon as they were through the door it slammed shut behind them. Ludo looked at it sadly.

"Come on, Ludo." Sarah insisted, refusing to let the door shutting get her down.

Back at the Goblin Castle Jareth was sitting on his throne, this time with little Toby perched on his lap. All around his feet his goblin guards looked up at the two, admiring their King for his calm demeanor.

And Jareth did feel calm. Something about Toby made him feel at ease despite his worry that Sarah had continued moving on through his maze. When he looked at Toby hard enough he found he could see a bit of Sarah in his blue eyes.

Unconsciously his thumb stroked Toby's blonde hair into a neat fashion on top of his head, allowing the thin strange to entwine with his fingers. Yes, something about this boy truly seemed to calm him.

"You're quite the cute little fellow." He informed Toby with a kind smile.

At his feet the goblins could only stare in amazement at their baffling King.

In the forest Ludo wouldn't budge from where he stood on the doorstep.

"Ludo… scared…" He said sadly.

"Oh… Come on Ludo, take my hand." She said, reaching out a hand to him, "Come on. Imagine a big thing like you being scared."

Ludo quickly took Sarah's hand allowing his fears to subside for a moment. They walked deeper into the forest where the sunlight was beginning to fade. All the while they were unsure if they had even chosen the correct door.

"See Ludo?" Sarah said trying to be confident. She let go of his hands long enough to gesture around the forest. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

As she said this the pixels under Ludo's feet silently disappeared sucking him into the hole without a sound. When Sarah turned around to see why he had suddenly become silent she found that she was alone in the darkening forest.

"Ludo!" She was becoming alarmed.

Nothing but silence answered her. Slowly she began to panic.

"Ludo!" She called over and over again.

She got no answer. The realization began to set in that she was completely alone again.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** All rights go to their original owner

 **Chapter 10**

 _No Problem_

In another part of the Labyrinth Hoggle was running on his own. He had put a good distance between him and Sarah but he couldn't get the thought of her out of his head. She had been so kind to him, despite how awful he had been to her.

He burst out of a cave back into the slowly fading sunlight but he still felt no further away. Unable to fight the sinking feeling in his stomach he stopped to rest again a rock.

In the distance he could faintly hear Sarah calling for help. Despite his best efforts he couldn't block out her voice.

"Hoggle, help!" She called.

His heart stopped. She was in trouble and was calling for him. How could he not go to help her when she sounded so scared?

"I'm coming Sarah!" He called.

He turned around to dash towards the sound of her voice but instead found Jareth lounging again one of the rocks. Instantly Hoggle froze in mid step.

"Well," the King said pleasantly, "If it isn't you. And where are you going?"

Despite his casual tone Hoggle had the impression that the King was in a very bad mood. He was wearing black from head to toe, which always meant that someone had pushed his buttons a bit too much. Was it something Sarah had done?

He had to think of a lie on the spot. "You see, the little lady gave me the slip but I, uh, just hear her now. So I was about to lead her back to the beginning, just like you told me to do."

The King looked as though he was considering that. Hoggle watched as his regal lips pressed together while his sharp eyes observed him.

"I see," the King said slowly, "For a moment I thought you were running to help her. But… no, not after my warnings, that would be stupid."

"Oh, you bet it would. Me, help her, after your warning?" Hoggle roared with laughter as though the thought of him betraying his King was the funniest thing in the world.

But when he turned around he found he was at eye level with the King, who had approached silently while he was laughing. His face was unreadable but Hoggle had the idea that he saw right through his lie.

"Oh dear, poor Hoghead." Jareth said sympathetically.

"Hoggle." He corrected quietly.

Jareth grabbed him on the scruff of the neck and pulled him so close that he could whisper to him. "I've just noticed your lovely jewels are missing."

At first Hoggle didn't react. Then he realize that by not reacting he was admitting that he knew where his jewels were. Then he would have to explain to the King where they had gone and why he didn't have them with him anymore.

Quickly he began patting himself down as though her were looking to see if the King was really telling the truth.

"Oh, yes, so they are… My lovely jewels… missing," He noted, "I better go find them. But first, I'm off to the take the little lady back to the beginning of the game, just like we planned!"

Hoggle quickly began to run off intent of putting as much distance between him and the King as he could. He only got as far as the mouth of the cave.

"Wait!" The King called to him, "I have a much better plan, Hoggle. Give her this."

With a flick of his wrist a crystal appeared out of the pixels into his hands. He allowed it to roll along his fingers before it soared through air towards Hoggle. He caught it but instead of the hard glass beneath his fingers he felt the soft skin of a fresh peach.

"What is it?" He asked wearily.

"It's a present." The King said bitterly.

Hoggle thought about it for a moment. The King never gave out gifts, to anyone. If he were giving a gift to Sarah it had a bad meaning behind it.

"It's not going to hurt the little lady, is it?"

"Oh, now why the concern?" Jareth drawled, giving Hoggle a sly look.

It took him a moment to think of his answer for that. "I won't do nothin' to harm her."

"Oh come, come, com, Hogbrain, I'm surprised at you losing your head over a girl." The King sneered.

"I ain't lost my head." He insisted.

The King could have let it go at that, maybe even just threaten him until he did what he was told. But his mood had considerably darkened since he had left the castle. He had to make sure he knew his place.

"You don't think a young girl could like a repulsive little scab like you, do you?" Jareth sneered, jabbing Hoggle in the stomach with his walking stick to make a point.

Hoggle's face fell. "But she said we was…"

"What?" Jareth snapped, "Bosom companions? Friends?"

"It doesn't matter." Hoggle mumbled.

Jareth reached out and snagged his ear, causing him even more pain. "You'll give that to her Hoggle or I'll dip you head first into the bog of corruption before you can blink!"

He released him and Hoggle limped away sadly.

"Oh, and Hoggle," The King called when he was almost out of sight, "If she ever kisses you I'll turn you into a prince."

"You will?" Hoggle asked, for a moment allowing the image of himself transform into a creature worthy of Sarah's trust.

"Prince of the Land of Corruption." He continued.

Then he laughed a cruel laugh causing Hoggle to shiver. This time he let him leave and Hoggle went off in search of Sarah, unsure what he wanted to do.

Back in the forest Sarah was still walking, looking for Ludo. Out of the bushes came a shrieking noise, which made her jump back.

Out of the bush a lanky red creature jumped blocking her path. Several others followed, surrounding Sarah on all sides.

"What's going on here?" She demanded.

The creatures around her cackled a broken laugh as they danced around her. It sounded to Sarah like the creatures were trying to speak to her but the only thing coming out was a garbled nonsense.

It was then that she noticed all of the pixels on the creatures bodies were shimmering around. She realized that they were corrupted.

"Come on Lady," one of the creatures finally shouted out, "Let's party!"

"No!" Sarah cried, trying to push them away.

"We love to party!"

"Yeah, we do!"

"Come on, Lady, come party with us!"

"Leave me alone!" She shouted again.

The creatures paid no attention to her desperate fight to escape them. One of them reached out to take a hold of her arm.

"You've got to see the view over here!" I told her.

"No, no, over here!" Another grabbed her other arm.

"But back here is much better!" Her left leg was pulled from the ground.

"You're all crazy, this is the best place, over here!" And then her right leg.

"Come on boys, she will love the swampy place!" Finally, with no other place to hold onto the final creature seized her head in it's long arms.

Sarah shrieked as each of the creatures began pulling in each direction, stretching her limbs to their limits. As she was panicking she was trying to think up a plan to get away from the red monsters. They were corrupted meaning it wouldn't be hard for her to try to destroy their body codes.

For a moment she struggled to get her hand into a position where she could help herself. When her hand was pressed against the chest of the creature she quickly erased part of the code, shotting the head off of the creature sending it soaring into the forest.

"Hey!" The head shouted as it flew away.

The others were too busy to notice their friend's problem, which worked in Sarah's favour. With her one hand free she slapped the one holding her leg separating both his arms from his torso. Before the others could take notice she threw the one holding her other leg back removing his lower leg and one of his arms.

"Hey, woah!" The last standing two realized what she was doing too late.

With her legs free she turned and threw both back, hit them at the same time and scattering all of their limbs at once. While they were busy trying to put themselves together again Sarah took her chance to escape.

She took off at a run deeper into the forest, with no idea whether or not the dreaded creatures would follow.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** All rights go to their original owner

 **Chapter 11**

 _Windows in the Wilderness_

Through the forest she ran as the sound of laughter came charging after her. The trees flew by her quickly. She didn't know how much further she needed to go to get away from the creatures or even how much longer she could even run.

It didn't take long for the creatures to catch up to her. Soon they were on her heels, hooting and laughing as their long arms attempted to grasp at her clothing.

"Hey, Lady, it's not nice to take someone's head off!" They called to her.

"Yeah, maybe we should take your head off!"

Suddenly the hands began grabbing at her hair instead, truly trying to remove her head. Sarah pushed herself to go faster to get out of the grips of the monsters.

But in front of her she could see her end coming quickly. A large wall, rising higher than she could ever possibly climb on her own, rose in front of her cutting off her exit at all sides. And there was nothing else for her to do.

She came to a stop directly in front of the wall and glanced up. The wall was completely smooth, no possible way to climb up it with no help.

Behind her the creatures approached.

"Hey, Lady!" They called.

She placed a shaky hand against the wall, trying to think. There were no glitches or signed of corruption she could see to use to her advantage. There was no way she could possibly break the code without it already being damaged.

As she was thinking a rope suddenly swung down beside her.

Shocked she looked up to see Hoggle at the top of the wall, motioning for her to grab on to the rope.

"Grab it!" He called to her.

She grabbed the rope without having to be told twice. As she climbed the creatures through their heads, arms, and legs at her, laughing at her all the while. Hoggle swatted at the heads to keep them away.

"Go on, get out of here." He told them.

Sarah finally reached the top of the wall and climbed over where she was safe from the creatures. From her spot she was able to watch as they gave up and returned back into the forest from where they came.

With that danger out of the way it was time to turn to the next order of business.

"Hoggle!" She cried, pulling him into a big hug, "You came back to help me!"

"No, no, don't kiss me!" He cried.

But it was too late. Sarah had been so happy that her friend had come back for her that she couldn't help but give him a big kiss on the head. As soon as she did so the earth beneath their feet began to shake.

Then suddenly, the floor disappeared beneath them.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** All rights go to their original owner

 **Chapter 12**

 _And No Birds Sing_

Both Sarah and Hoggle screamed as they fell through the floor of the wall into a dirty slide through the mountain. Sarah thrashed around trying to grab something to stop her fall, unsure where she would come out at the bottom.

Eventually there was a dim light at the end of the tunnel. Hoggle was the first one out. His hand snagged a broken metal rod that was sticking out of the broken part of the wall, halting his fall but leaving him dangling over the edge. Sarah was lucky to be able to grab onto a large branch, which stopped her from toppling into Hoggle and sending them both into the unknown.

"Hoggle!" Sarah cried when she noticed him hanging of the ledge below her.

She quickly leaned over to grab onto his arm before he fell. As she did she noticed that over the ledge there was a large swampy body of water below them.

If she thought the creatures before were messed up it was nothing compared to this swamp.

Everywhere you looked the waters were shimmering with a dark, corrosive power. The lapping sounds on the rocks and shoreline were instead static and fizz. Everything that is touched by the water begins the same process, like a disease.

"Oh my God… What is it?" She was horrified.

"The bog of eternal corruption!" Hoggle cried.

Yes, she thought, that makes sense. She could feel how corrupted the code in this area was in such a way that would ruin anything it came into contact with. The King had made it this way on purpose. He had created a code specifically to infect other created codes, and for what?

"It's so awful… it's…"

"It doesn't matter what it is it's the bog of corruption, help!" He yelled to her.

Quickly Sarah helped him up but her mind was still stuck on the bog. She couldn't believe that someone would create something so horrible. Something that would hurt the other creations he made.

"Ah, what did you have to go and do a thing like that for?" Hoggle said when he was safely back on the thin ledge.

"Do what?" Sarah asked, "Rescue you?"

"What? No! You kissed me!"

The King needed no reminders. The ledge from under their feet suddenly gave out nearly sending them down into the bog. Only quick action on their parts, jumping to a safer part of the ledge, managed to keep them both out of harm's way.

"Don't pretend to be so hard," Sarah said shakily once they were both safe again, "I know that you came back to help me. And I know that you're my friend."

Hoggle blushed at that. He hid it quickly, afraid that the King was watching. And if he was watching then Hoggle knew he was waiting for him to complete his task.

"Did not, am not. I just came to get me property back," he defended himself. Then remembering himself added, "Oh and to give you… uh, to give you…"

He reached down to try to get the peach from his pocket before he lost his nerve. But his hand caught while he was trying to pull it out giving Sarah a chance to give him a confused look.

"Give me what?" She asked.

Before Hoggle could answer her the ledge beneath their feet gave way and both tumbled over the side. Thankfully they had moved over on the ledge just enough so that when they fell they came down on a dry piece of land. In fact, they fell onto a very soft ball of fur.

Sarah rolled off of it onto the soil of the ground before realizing who it was.

"Ludo!" She cried when she viewed the large monster sprawled on the ground below her.

"BOG!" The monster cried.

As she stood up she realized that Hoggle had disappeared.

"Hey, where's Hoggle?"

While she asked it she could hear his muffled voice coming from below Ludo. She looked down and could see his small little legs kicking from under his body.

"Oh, here…" Taking a hold of Ludo's arm she hauled him to his feet, giving Hoggle space to get up.

He got to his feet, noticed the large hairy monster standing in front of him, and cried out. Ludo, never seeing Hoggle before, took a frightened step back. Sarah quickly rushed in to calm the situation.

"No, it's okay, Ludo's a friend too."

"What?" Hoggle cried.

"BOG!" Ludo cried.

Sarah realized then how close they were to the corrupted water. It was understandable that Hoggle and Ludo would be so upset being so close to the waters. Since she wasn't part of the game it was unlikely the waters would affect her, not that she wanted to take the chance. They on the other hand could be messed up for the rest of their existence if they get too close.

"Yeah, you're right," She told Ludo, "Let's get out of here."

She looked around quickly, scanning the area for a safe way to escape the Bog. On every side it seemed like there was corrupting water with only a little bit of land where they could walk.

Then she spotted it.

"Over there," she pointed towards a small plank of wood connecting two sides of the bog, "There's a bridge."

Quickly Hoggle and Ludo began walking towards the small bridge. But even though Sarah had recommended it she didn't know if it was such a good idea. The bridge was so small she doubted she could get across on her own, let alone get Ludo across.

They approached and Hoggle went to go first. But before he got to the bridge he was stopped.

"Halt!" A voice cried from a tree next to the bridge.

Out jumped a small fox standing on his hind legs wearing a noble outfit. He was holding a sword in his paw.

"Please, we have to get across." Sarah told him

"Without my permission, none shall pass." The fox informed her.

"Please," Sarah begged, "I only have a little time left!"

The fox didn't seem to be thinking about it. Sarah wondered if he had been sent by Jareth to stop her from going further in the game. It's not like he hadn't sent people to stop her before. But why would he try to keep her in a swamp?

But Hoggle was trying to help her.

"We've got to get away from this bog!" He told him.

"Why ever would you want to do that?" Asked the fox, "This place is safe and lovely."

All three of them looked around trying to figure out if they had missed where they were standing. But they found that they were still surrounded by the corrupting waters of the bog. They all turned confused expressions his way.

"You're joking. This place is dangerous!" Hoggle informed him.

"But I live by my sense of danger. This place is as safe as a summer flower. And none shall pass without my permission!" The fox raged.

Sarah could see that Hoggle was beginning to lose his patience with the fox.

"Get out of my way!" He demanded trying to push past the fox.

"I warn thee," The fox said, "I am sworn to do my duty!"

With a swing of his sword he slashes at Hoggle's shirt. Thankfully he was able to hop back out of the way before any damage could be done.

The ting was starting to make Sarah mad.

"Come on. Let us cross!" Sarah demanded angrily.

"Hold!" He stepped forward to swing his sword upwards towards Sarah's head.

Ludo, unable to stand his friend being threatened anymore, stepped forward and lifted the fox right off the ground where he was sure he could do no more damage.

"Hey, I don't want to have to hurt you!" The fox cried.

Sarah watched as Ludo swung the fox in the air. Out of the corner of her eyes she caught movement as Hoggle took off across the bridge.

"Hoggle, what are you doing?" She called after him.

But she was too concerned with Ludo and his swinging captive to go after him. The fox had decided that he didn't like being held and proceeded to bite Ludo on one of his large fingers. Instantly he let him go to nurse his injured finger.

The fox hits the ground and is quick to go on the offense. He hit Ludo with the butt of his sword directly in the knee sending him hopping in pain. He expertly dodged one of Ludo's pig paws that swung at him. But he couldn't avoid his other paw, which scooped him up again.

Ludo was slow while the fox was fast. Quickly he hopped up on top of Ludo's head and began bludgeoning him with the sword.

Finally Ludo ended the battle by throw the fox off into a tree.

"Enough!" He cried, his head poking out of a hole in the tree, "Before this day I have never met my match in battle. Yet this noble knight hath brought me to a standstill."

"Are you okay, Ludo?" Sarah asked, rushing to his side to make sure he wasn't hurt.

"BOG!" He cried in fear.

"Sir Ludo, is that is thy name," the fox said, "Now I Sir Didymus yield to thee. Come, let us be brothers hence forth, and fight for the right as one!"

A wide smile spread on Ludo's face. He reached out to help Sir Didymus out of the tree.

"Ludo get… brother!" He said happily.

"Well met sir Ludo." Once he was back safely on the ground he smiled politely at Sarah and Ludo.

Sarah was happy that things had gone the right way. It seemed Jareth hadn't sent Sir Didymus to stop her. He was just a fox living near the Bog who was doing his job. And now he was another member on their team.

"Great, come on." She said, leading them towards the bridge.

But Sir Didymus wasn't going to have it.

"Wait a minute! You forget my sacred vow, my lady."

"But you just said Ludo was your brother!" Sarah argued.

Sir Didymus looked torn. "I have taken an oath and I must defend it to the death."

Sarah looked at Ludo. He was growing more and more uncomfortable by the minute being so close to the waters. She had to get him out of there before he lost his mind.

"Okay, let's handle this thing logically," Sarah insisted, "What exactly have you sworn?"

"I have sworn with my life's blood; none shall pass this way without my permission." He announced gallantly.

Was that it?

"Well then, may we have your permission?" Sarah asked.

Sir Didymus looked shocked that she had asked. "Well, I uh…"

Both Sarah and Ludo looked at him in anticipation.

"Yes?" He said at last.

Everyone let out a relieved breath.

"Thank you noble sir." Sarah told him.

He bowed low in respect. "My Lady."

Sarah looked hesitantly to the small bridge that didn't look like it could hold her weight. But Hoggle had already crossed. And there was no other way that she could see to safely get her and her friends out of the Bog area.

With one more glance at her friends she took a deep breath and stepped out onto the small bridge.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** All rights go to their original owner

 **Chapter 13**

 _Once Bitten_

As soon as her hands left the safety of the support posts Sarah wished she had stayed behind. The bridge was nothing more than a thin plank of wood laid across two rocks with no handrails to hold onto. If she lost her balance she was going in the Bog. If the bridge beneath her broke she was going into the Bog.

"Don't worry, sweet Maiden," Sir Didymus assured her, "This bridge has stood for a thousand years."

But just as he said it the bridge beneath her began to crack under the pressure. Having nowhere to go she reached up and grabbed onto a low hanging branch from a tree nearby. As soon as she had grabbed the branch the bridge broke out from under her splashing into the bog below where it blurred out of existence.

She screamed as she hung from the branch.

"Hoggle!" She cried.

Hoggle, who had been waiting for them on the other side, heard Sarah screaming and ran back to the ledge. When he saw the position she was in he froze. From where he was there was nothing he could see that he could do.

"Don't worry fair lady, I shall save you!" Sir Didymus called from the other side, "Somehow…"

But Sarah was too busy screaming to hear anything they said.

Meanwhile Ludo was beginning to panic. He let out a howl that shook the very fabric of the land. All around the area the pixels were shaking from his powerful roar.

"Sir Ludo, can thou sing right now when thy Maiden needs thy help?" Sir Didymus scolded him.

But Ludo kept singing. His roar shattered the pixels keeping the trees and rocks surrounding the Bog together, sending them all tumbling into the Bog at Sarah's feet. Eventually the buildup created a walkway that was solid enough to hold Sarah when she dropped down onto it.

She gave them both a big smile.

"That's incredible, Ludo!"

"My brother," Sir Didymus said incredulously, "Can thou shake the very existence?"

"Sure, Pixels scared." He shrugged.

He hobbled his way down to the new bridge to cross. Sarah had already gotten to the other side where Hoggle was waiting to help her onto the bank. Sir Didymus followed Ludo down but didn't cross the bridge.

"Sir Ludo, wait for me," then he turned to yell up to the top of the hill, "Ambrosius! You can come out now."

From the top of the hill the trembling head of a sheep dog emerged from a tree. At first it took Sarah by surprise. He looked like a perfect picture of Merlin, her own dog. Jareth couldn't have modeled him after her own dog could he? He could have only seen him once she got the game right? She didn't want to think about it.

"Ah, my noble steed." Sir Didymus said as he hopped onto the dogs back.

But the dog refused to step onto the unsteady looking pile of debris to cross the Bog. He whimpered sadly.

"Just close your eyes and go!" Didymus commanded.

To the dogs credit he did as he was told with minimum complaining. Once they were finally across the Bog the group could go on their way again. As they made their way away from the Bog Hoggle hung back.

Slowly he held the peach out over the Bog, debating throwing it in. He never got the chance.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you…" Jareth's voice came to him.

Hoggle looked around wildly, wondering where his master was. But it was only a voice. Slowly he put the peach back into his pocket.

"Oh please, I can't give this to her." He said to the sky.

There was no answer to his pleas.

Back in the castle Jareth sat with little Toby on his lap. In his hands he held the small screen that showed Sarah's face while she and her ever growing list of companions made their way towards the castle.

Toby stared transfixed by his sisters face on the screen.

One of her new friends was leading the group. "Well, come on then, we should reach the castle well before day."

Jareth frowned at the fox. He wasn't supposed to be a part of the equation. Then the screen switched back to Sarah's face.

"Look Sarah," Jareth drawled to the screen, "Is this what you're trying to find?"

Toby, happy to have the attention, clapped with a gleeful laugh. Jareth looked at him fondly.

"So much trouble over such a little thing. But not for long. Just as soon as Hoggle gives her my present."

His eyes returned to Sarah, catching every movement with an expert's eye. Slowly he smiled.

"Then she'll forget everything."

In the forest everyone was beginning to slow down from exhaustion. Someone's stomach rumbled and the rest of them groaned.

"Was that my stomach or yours?" Didymus asked his steed, who only whined in response.

"HUNGRY!" Ludo sighed.

"Yeah," Sarah agreed sadly, "Well… we can't stop now. Maybe we can find some berries or something…"

For a moment she lagged behind, stopping only for a moment to see if there was anything in sight that could satisfy them. Hoggle, who had been lagging further behind the group, noticed Sarah on her own. The fear Jareth pushed at him compelled him to move towards her, the peach gripped tightly in his hand.

"Uh, Sarah," he mumbled, holding out the peach, "here."

When Sarah saw it her face lit up.

"Hoggle! Thank you! You're a life saver." She cried.

Quickly she took a small bite of the peach, intending to allow for enough for the rest of them to have some. But as soon as the peach touched her mouth she began to feel a numbing sensation everywhere it touched.

"This tastes strange…" She mumbled.

Looking up she noticed that the world was beginning to blur. Hoggle, who was looking very guilty, began to leave her sight. She was having trouble staying on her feet.

"Hoggle," she whispered, "What have you done?"

Hoggle, who could no longer stand to see Sarah in such a state, began to back away from her.

"Danm you Jareth," he took off running in the opposite direction, "And damn me too…"

With him gone there was nothing for Sarah to look at. She stumbled, trying to find something to grab onto to support herself. Her hand found a tree branch and she leaned her head against it, staring off into the blurring world.

"Everything's dancing…" She whispered before she tumbled to the ground.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** All rights go to their original owner

 **Chapter 14**

 _O Body Swayed to Music_

In the castle Jareth sat on the window sill with four screens surrounding him. In each he held different images, different possibilities. He could tell from his other monitor that Sarah had taken his presence. His virus was now running through her body.

She thought that because she was not a part of his game that she could not be affected by his programs. That was her biggest mistake.

Carefully he chose the screen he wanted. With a gentle hand he plucked it from the group and held it out the window in the direction he knew Sarah was in.

When he released the screen it glided gently on invisible hands. Suddenly it dissolved into the pixels, instead forming a brilliant pink ribbon the coiled through the air, floating towards its target.

In the woods Sarah's friends had long since lost her. On the forest floor she lay, propped up against a log so that the sky would stop spinning before her eyes.

Then, out of the blurring world, something solid caught her eye. It was a pink ribbon floating carelessly in the breeze.

She reached out for the only thing she new to be solid. As she did so the ribbon curled around her arm, slipping itself onto her until it was tied into sweet bow on her wrist.

The sight made Sarah feel calm. She smiled, closing her eyes and letting the cool sensation of the ribbon calm her troubled mind. Soon, without feeling a thing, she drifted off into a space she could not understand.

Up ahead the group came to a stop overlooking a cliff and, not far in the distance, the castle. Sir Didymus turned for the first time to address the crumbling party.

"The castle doth lie yonder, my Lady." He said.

Then, he and Ludo noticed for the first time that Sarah wasn't with them.

"My Lady?" He called.

But neither got a response.

Sarah stood in a room unlike any room she had ever seen before. Everything around her was blank. The walls were blank. The ceiling was blank. There was nothing in the room but Sarah who stood feeling very confused.

She didn't know how she had gotten there. She didn't know what she was doing. But somehow she felt… like she had to do something.

Out of nowhere a soft song began to play, sung by a familiar voice. Her head was so thick she couldn't remember whose voice it belonged to. But she felt like it was important, since it was all she could remember.

The song reminded her of something that might be sung at a ball.

She smiled. She could picture it all in her head. Golden floors, white walls, and high ceilings with glorious diamond chandeliers hanging from the finest chains.

When she opened her eyes she found that she was in fact standing in that very ballroom. She blinked in surprise at the sudden change. It was like she had imagined it and it had just appeared! It was like she had created it herself…

Looking around the ballroom she decided that it looked very empty.

With her eyes open this time she imagined white tables scattering a corner with lush seats for the guests to enjoy. Out of the pixels she was amazed to watch each and every table appear as though by magic.

She thought up delicious meals to be placed on each table because, what would a ball be without food? Then she draped red curtains from the walls for effect. She laughed joyously at what she was creating. It was like a game. Her game.

But the ball was missing guests! The song played on and Sarah closed her eyes, imagining the people dressed in old dresses and suits swinging together to the song. She opened her eyes to see the room now packed with people, each wearing masks and outfits more wonderful than she had imagined.

Still… there was something that wasn't right… Something was still missing.

"If I may," a voice drawled from her left, "You do seem like you are enjoying yourself."

When Sarah turned there was no one there. She looked around wildly, wondering who in her new world was aware that she was there. None of the other dancers paid her any attention. And why had the voice reminded her of… something…

She scanned the crowd, looking for someone out of place. For a brief moment she saw a flash of blonde hair that triggered something in her. But when she looked again there were only dancers, none of which looked out of place.

Unable to stay where she was she began to wander through her dream, trying to find the voice. Several times she thought she had spotted the man only to find nothing there. Eventually she broke from the crowd.

When she came to a stop she found herself standing in front of a mirror that she hadn't placed in the room. As she stared at her reflection, scared and confused, she noticed a figure materializing out of the dancing couples. She could only stare in fascination.

He was tall, wearing a well fitting black suit. Under he wore a wore blouse and blue tie. On closer inspection Sarah saw that his tie was laced with golden threads forming an intricate pattern that she couldn't place. But her gaze didn't remain on his tie for long.

Her eyes quickly drifted to his face, mocking but gentle. He watched her silently until she turned around.

For a moment she was sure he wouldn't be there when he turned. But sure enough, there he was, standing even closer than she had imagined. Everything about the man both amazed and frightened her all at once.

"Who are you?" She asked quietly, finding her voice.

"The missing piece." He said simply.

Sarah didn't understand. Missing piece? To what?

He stepped forward so that he was looking down at her, his smile growing at her confusion.

"Every ball needs a King..." He said simply.

And he looked like one. Maybe he wasn't dressed in the fancy robes a King wore, but the way he held himself, the way he stood out from the crowd… Sarah decided that this man was most certainly the King of the ball.

And his gaze was on her.

Slowly he reached a hand out to take hers. His smile grew devious.

"... And every King needs a Queen."

In one fluid motion he swept her against him. Before she could react he pulled her into a twirl through the crowd. The people parted for him in every direction, making way for the new couple swinging together.

She was so caught up in the dance that she nearly didn't notice the fabric swishing around her ankles. Looking down the noticed that her jeans had transformed themselves into a flowing pink and white dress with ribbons tied into perfect bows. Without needing to look she could feel that her long hair had been tied back into a regal bun. She truly looked like a Queen!

Surprisingly she found herself laughing with glee. Dancing was more fun that she had realized.

Even her partner seemed to be enjoying himself. He laughed along with her while pulling her into dizzying spins. But the fun couldn't last forever.

Something was beginning to nag at Sarah. There was something that she was supposed to be doing. She couldn't even remember how much time had passed since they had started dancing! Time…

Suddenly she pushed her partner away, stumbling back through the people to find a clear space.

"Whatever is the matter?" He asked, following her.

"Leave me alone, I just need a moment to think!" She told him.

But still he followed her until she was cornered against a wall. None of this was real. She had created it all. So where did she come from before? Why couldn't she leave when she wanted to? This was a cage, not a ballroom!

She grabbed one of the chairs she had created, raising it above her head.

"Wait!" Her partner reached out grabbing onto a leg of the chair, "What are you doing? You created this world! How can you just destroy it?"

But Sarah wasn't listening. She wanted out. She needed out. She just had to clear her head for one moment.

Taking him by surprise she wrenched the chair from his grasp and smashed it into one of the walls. Instantly the scene around her shattered including the dancers and her partner.

Before she realized what she had done she was tumbling down through a dark sky. Still unconscious she landed in a large pile of garbage. In another mound of trash a few feet away lay a broken tablet. Just another addition to a growing pile of broken things.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer:** All rights go to their original owner

 **Chapter 15**

 _The Time of Her Life_

When Sarah opened her eyes she was alone on a mountain of trash. All around her there were broken objects and rejected toys. As she sat up she tried to remember where she was and how she had gotten there.

"What was I doing?" She asked herself.

Around her wrist she saw that there was a pink ribbon tied in a bow. Somehow the ribbon made her feel uncomfortable. Quickly she tore it from her wrist, adding it to the pile of garbage at her feet.

Looking around she realized that she wasn't on just one pile of trash. All around her trash piles rose like mountains across the landscape. She took a few steps on the trash to see if it was stable enough to walk on.

Then suddenly the ground moved beneath her sending her stumbling away.

"Get off my back!" A voice yelled at her.

Sarah saw that under a pile of garbage there was a short wrinkled old lady with trash piling on her back. She had accidentally stepped on her thinking she was just another pile.

"And why don't you look where you're going, young woman?" The trash lady asked.

"I was looking…"

Going somewhere? Was she going somewhere?

"And where were you going?"

"I don't remember." She answered honestly.

She old woman shook her head. "You can't look where you're going if you don't know where you're going."

"I was looking for something." Sarah told her.

"Well looky here," The woman pullers a small flat device from the stash on her back and offered it to Sarah.

At first she was unsure what it was, but she took it from the lady anyway. She realized when she looked at it that it was her tablet. It had been missing from her room and she had gone to look for it.

"My tablet! Thank you." She said gratefully.

"That's what you were looking for, wasn't it my dear?"

"Yes, I forgot."

She hugged the tablet close to her chest happy to have something that she remembered. The trash lady walked around her and continued walking through the trash. She stopped for a moment to motion for Sarah to follow her.

"Why don't you come in here," she motions to a towel draped over an opening to a trash cave, "And see if there is anything else you like."

Hesitantly Sarah pulled back the curtain to look inside. She was surprised to see her bedroom on the other side. Every disk right where it was supposed to be. Her TV was working perfectly playing a game about mazes and castles.

With a happy sigh she rushed to her bed, relieved to finally be somewhere she understood. She buried her head in her pillow allowing the darkness to clear her mind. For a while she stayed like that.

Eventually, when she raised her head again, she realized that everything was normal and quiet. She laughed to herself.

"It was all a dream…" She mumbled to herself as she stood from the bed, "I should go see if dad is home."

Quickly she made her way to the door, expecting to walk into the hallway where her father would be coming through the front door to greet her. Instead she was greeted by the sight of the trash lady barging her way past Sarah into her room.

"Better to stay in here dear. There's nothing you want out there… oh no, no, no, no!" She slammed the door behind her.

Sarah backed herself up against the door trying to put as much space between her and the woman as possible. But she was running around the room, scooping up everything she could find, paying little attention to Sarah.

Eventually she slowly returned to her bed, sitting down to face the TV.

"Look here, you have a gameboy!" The woman went on. "And looky here… You have a puzzle game!"

As the woman went about, announcing every little thing in Sarah's room, she was beginning to make a pile of the items to place on Sarah's back. Sarah did nothing to stop her as she was absorbed in watching the game.

A young girl was standing before a King with wild hair. The dialogue under them showed that she was pleading for her child's life. Her options were little, and before the King there was nothing she could do but beg.

But… that didn't seem right. How could it end that way? There had to be something better she could do! No one was powerless, not even a simple girl. She should be angrier with the King for taking…

Suddenly the realization hit her. She looked around at the room and all of the things in it, all meaningless pieces of trash that could break. But there were things outside of her room that, if they broke, would be gone forever.

"What's the matter, my dear? Don't you like your gadgets?" The old woman asked her, noticing her upset face.

"It's all junk." She told her.

"Wha-Well… What about this?" She handed Sarah her cellphone, something she had long thought to have been broken, "This is not junk."

She thought about it for a moment. For as long as she had cared to remember her cell phone had been essential to her. She needed it to help her play games, to talk to her online friends, and to text her dad when she was lonely. But… a cell phone was just another piece of plastic that could be replaced.

"Yes it is!" She threw the phone down, shattering the screen when it hit the ground, "I have to save Toby!"

As she said this the room around her began to crumble in on itself. The walls tore themselves apart at the seams allowing streams of garbage to flow in. She began looking for a way out of the mess when two large arms appeared through the ceiling.

"My Lady!" Sir Didymus called to her, "Thank goodness thou art safe at last."

"Sarah!" Ludo cried.

She grabbed onto his arms and let him pull her back into the fresh air. Once she was out she looked around with fresh eyes at her surroundings.

"Sarah back!" Ludo smiled.

"Where are we?" She asked.

"My Lady look, we're almost there," Didymus pointed towards the horizon where Sarah could see a large wall running along the land meeting at a large set of doors, "Those are the gates to the Goblin City."

Sarah looked at the gates with a determined glare, "Ludo, Sir Didymus, let's go quickly, we don't have much time."

Quickly they followed their leader as she raced towards the gates.

Over a mountain of trash Hoggle poked his head out to watch his companions continue on without him. The fact that Sarah had overcome Jareth's virus was a relief and a constant nagging fear for him.

"Oh no…"


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer:** All rights go to their original owner

 **Chapter 16**

 _The Gates of Goblin City_

The group approached the closed gates leading to the Kingdom. There was one guard standing out front but thankfully for the group he had fallen asleep at his post, sitting in an old chair.

Sarah and Ludo approached silently, careful not to wake him. Didymus had others plans for the group.

He raced forward to get in the sleeping guard's face.

"Open up!" He demanded, "Open the door!"

"Sir Didymus, hush, you'll wake the guard!" Sarah called to him quietly.

"Well let them all wake up!" With his sword he pulls the guard down to his level by the helmet and screamed, "I shall fight you all to the death!"

Sarah quickly rushed forward to haul him away from the guard before he could successfully wake him up.

"Please, Sir Didymus," She begged, "For my sake hush!"

Instantly he grew quiet and calm. "But of course! For thee, anything! But… I am not a coward?"

"No." Sarah told him.

"And my sense of danger is kene?"

"Oh… yes!"

"Then I will fight anyone, any place, and time-"

"No, no!" She manages to calm him down once again, "Now come quietly."

With one last motion for him to remain silent Sarah moved towards the door, shadowed by Ludo. Didymus understood what he was being asked but wished he could do more to help his new friends.

Meanwhile Ludo helped Sarah push the door open silently so that they could walk through past the guard who was still groggy from sleep.

"I don't understand why we have to be so quiet," Didymus silked, "It's only a Goblin City."

But even as he was saying this the guard was coming to his senses. Unable to stop them from entering, since they already had, he pulled a large lever that had been hidden behind him.

The doors behind them swung closed, trapping them in the city. In front of them, before they could react, another set of doors swung together. On each of the doors is half of the form of a robot that came together like a puzzle.

"What is that?" Sarah cried.

The robot, now complete, stepped out of the door with a heavy crash. Behind the group a row of spikes emerged from the ground pushing them even closer to the robot monster.

"Who goes…" The machine bellowed.

He swung a large axe towards the group. Sarah screaming, pulling Ludo out of the way just as the axe struck the brick wall sending sparks raining down on them.

Sir Didymus was anxious to fend off the monster but his loyal steed had other plans. Ambrosius reared up, tossing Didymus off so that he could hide behind an abandoned cart. Didymus could do nothing but bark angrily at the monster, cursing his steed.

While Sarah and Ludo were busy dodging the axe of the monster Sarah caught movement out of the corner of her eye.

Hoggle had entered the arena, running along the top of the wall above the monsters line of view. When Sarah noticed him her mouth fell open.

"Hoggle!" She cried.

He made his way along the top of the wall until he was positioned directly above the monsters head. Below him he could see a small Goblin sitting in the controls in the head, pulling levers and pushing buttons that made the axe swing.

He looked up and noticed Hoggle standing above him but could do nothing strapped in the seat to stop him.

"Get out of there…" He growled, leaping down on top of him.

He seized the goblin, ripping him from his chair. Over the side the tiny goblin fell before hitting the ground running. He scampered past Sarah and Ludo spitting curses at them all as he went.

Hoggle, now in the driver's seat of the monster, began fiddling with the controls trying to turn it off. He pressed every button and pulled every lever until the dashboard began to spark and smoke began to rise from the machine.

On the ground Sarah was watching as the machine began to spasm from whatever Hoggle was doing. But still it was able to swing its axe at them once again sending them diving for cover. Didymus continued barking at the monster.

"Drop the axe!" Sarah called up to him.

"I'm trying!"

The axe swung left and right until it struck the the wall above Hoggle's head and stuck in the bricks. Unable to move the monster began to short out. Sparks flew in every direction and Hoggle tried to get himself out of the driver's seat.

"Get out of there, Hoggle!" Sarah took a step back away from the sparking giant.

Hoggle finally untangled himself from the controls just in time to leap from the giant before an explosion brought it to it's knees. He tumbled to the ground landing at Sarah's feet, groaning as he tried to get up.

"Are you alright?" She rushed to his side.

"I'm not asking for forgiveness," he said shaking her off, "I ain't ashamed of nothin' I done. Jareth made me give you that peach. I told you I was a coward. And I ain't interested in being friends."

Sarah looked at Hoggle and his broken spirit. She could tell that despite his words he was really broken up about it.

"I forgive you, Hoggle." She told him.

His head shot up. "You do?"

Didymus, who had finally succeeded in getting his steed to come out from his hiding spot, made his way over to them. He stopped in front of Hoggle to look down at his with a satisfied look.

"And I commend you. Rarely have I seen such courage. You are a valiant man, sir Hoggle." He told him.

"I am?" Hoggle asked.

Ludo was the next to move forward to stand by Hoggle's side.

"Hoggle and Ludo… friends!" Ludo bellowed.

"We are?"

Sarah watched as Hoggle's eyes filled with tears. It was at that moment that Sarah realized that Hoggle, and all of her friends, were the glitch in the code that Jareth never thought of when he created his game. He was in such a rush to make the perfect game that he neglected to make the perfect characters.

He had given up on Ludo, sealing him away with a weak code because he was too nice. Sir Didymus was exiled to a place where he should have been destroyed but it only made him stronger. Hoggle got the worst of it. He was forced by fear to follow a leader that didn't care enough to give him anything but a lousy job cleaning up outside the game.

Jareth had held them all captive in his game one way or another. Sarah refused to be like him.

"Here are your things back, Hoggle," she said handing him the gadgets she had taken earlier, "Thanks for your help."

For a moment he said nothing. His eyes remained fixed on the ground so that they could not see the tears in them. Then he was filled with a righteous anger.

He lept to his feet filled with determination.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get that rat who calls himself Jareth." He told the others.

"Right!" They all said at once.

Ludo pushed the door open while the rest of the group lined up behind him. They filled in through the door and finally entered the Goblin city.

In the castle Jareth was happily bouncing Toby up and down on his lap. The clock on the wall showed that Sarah had just half an hour left roughly to get to his castle, which was highly unlikely considering she would walking around with no memory of who she was.

Toby's happy giggles were interrupted by the front doors of the castle swinging open. A rather ugly guard rushed in and bowed roughly with urgency.

"Your Highness," he said, "the girl…"

"What?" He asked politely.

"The girl who ate the peach a forgot everything!"

Jareth rolled his eyes. He was truly beginning to lose his mind with these goblins. He would much rather spend his time with Toby.

"What of her?" He asked.

"She's here in the Goblin City with Sir Didymus, the monster, and the dwarf who works for you!" He finally cried out.

Jareth stood, clutching Toby close to his chest. "What?"

"They've made it past the gate and they're on their way to the castle!"

Jareth looked out the window into the distance where he could see the gates of the city not far in the distance. She was so close that she was nearly knocking on his door. He hadn't counted on her ever getting so close.

"Call out the guards," he commanded, "And take the baby in private. She must be stopped!"

All at once the Goblins scrambled around the throne room knocking into each other in a mad rush to go nowhere. Bells and alarms began ringing splitting Jareth's head with a killer headache. He closed his eyes tightly.

"She must be stopped…" He whispered to himself again.

A goblin came then and took Toby from his arms. With him gone Jareth began for the first time feel a stab of panic. Sarah was almost there. How would he face her?

Angrily he swept out of the throne room and headed deeper inside the castle. She could not beat him. She would not.


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer:** All rights go to their original owner

 **Chapter 17**

 _Saints and Whiskers_

In the Goblin city the brave friends walked silently past dark, silent houses. The roads were clear of the things Sarah thought the crazy goblins would have. Despite being in the heart of the game there was a surprising lack of people walking around.

Within a few minutes they had emerged from the cluster of houses into a clearing before the steps leading to the castle. Still, there was no one, not even the guards, around to stop the team.

"I think we're going to make it." Sarah remarked in astonishment.

"Oh," Hoggle waved a careless hand at that, "Piece of cake."

Just as he said this an alarm sounded, ringing through the entire Kingdom. Hundreds of guards began hopping over the walls until the group was almost completely surrounded. The guards blocked their path to the castle.

The group quickly retreated when guns started going off. Swords, spikes, and cannons were the preferred method of choice by the Goblin Army. None of the group members, besides Sir Didymus, were equipped to handle such force.

Sir Didymus, the brave man he was, refused to back down without a fight. He raised his sword as his friends retreated to safety to defend them. But, as always, Ambrosius had other plans.

A cannon went off, destroying one of the houses close to the retreating group. Ambrosius reared up before taking off in the opposite much to the horror of Didymus.

"We're going the wrong way!" He cried, "The battle's behind you!"

Hoggle quickly pulled Sarah into an empty house, closing the door behind them.

"How's Ludo going to get in?" He realized.

Ludo, who had been left outside, simply pulled the front side of the house off, climbed inside, and then pulled it shut behind him. Quickly, so not to be in his friend's way, he climbed to the top of the house where he popped his head out of the large chimney.

When he looked down he could see the army closing in around the house. The only way in they had, since he had broken the door, was to come through the windows. Inside Sarah and Hoggle had the windows covered and were clobbering any goblin who managed to get their heads through.

"Ludo! Call the pixels!" Sarah yelled up to him.

He let out an almighty roar that shook the entire Kingdom. Even Jareth, who had been watching from the window in the throne room, was shaken from the force. Below the chimney the Goblin guards fell to the ground.

The gates to the city split open from the force sending a shower of broken pixels to the ground. The goblins outside the house began sinking through the ground at an alarming rate.

Further away Didymus and Ambrosius were sorting out some issues. Didymus had insisted on fighting the guards off while Ambrosius insisted on running away. In the end Ambrosius had hidden away in one of the houses leaving Didymus locked outside to face the guards on his own.

"Open the door this instant!" He demanded from outside.

There was a tap on his back that caused him to turn around. When he turned he came face to face with a dozen guards with their swords out towards him, trapping him on all sides. They all sneered down at him from the horses (if you could call them that) back.

"So," Didymus said smoothly, "Come to surrender, have you? Then throw down your weapons and I will see to it that you are well treated."

They each gave a confused look to the person to their right. But before they could attack the ground beneath their feet began to shake. One by one they slipped through the broken pixels until all that was left of them were the swords they once held.

Didymus barked out a laugh.

"Next time surrender."

In the house Ludo was still howling away. Once Sarah and Hoggle realized that the goblins were all running away they emerged from the house.

Outside everything was chaos. Goblins ran in every direction to try to escape the attacking pixels. But the pixels never went near Sarah or her friends as they made their way to the stairs before the castle once again.

Just at the bottom Sarah stopped.

"Where's Didymus?" She called.

"Coming!" He answered, riding from the chaos on top of Ambrosius who had decided that since the threat was gone he would come out.

With the group whole again they raced up the steps where two large doors blocked their way. But by now there was nothing that could stop her from getting to Toby. Ludo made quick work of the lightweight doors.

Once they were open they stormed through the doors ready for an even larger group waiting for them inside. But instead they entered to find the throne room completely empty. Not even Jareth sat on his throne.

In the middle of the room there was a cradle with a blanket thrown over it. But Sarah knew without having to go there that Toby wasn't there. And the clock on the wall offered no consolation.

She had less that five minutes to find Toby.


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer:** All rights go to their original owner

 **Chapter 18**

 _Seeming_

"Oh no." Sarah whispered.

She looked around trying to figure out what to do. She couldn't see any way for her to get her time back. Jareth had created the time specifically knowing that it couldn't be altered by anyone but him.

All she knew was that Toby was somewhere in the castle. The guards had come for her not even ten minutes ago meaning that they were dispatched from the castle at that time.

On the floor she noticed that there were scuffling footprints all leading out the door of the castle that they had just come through. There was only one set of prints that weren't like the others. A fresh set of larger men's shoes walked through another door on the far side of the room instead of out the front door with the others.

"He must have gone this way." She said, hurrying towards the door.

The others ran after her, following closely behind.

"Come on then." Hoggle said.

"No wait!" She told them, "I have to face him alone."

"But why?" Didymus asked sadly, unable to understand why she would not want help from her loyal friends.

She had to think quickly. "Because that's the way it's done."

"Well…" Didymus couldn't argue with logic like that, "If that is the way it is done then that is the way you must do it. But… should you need us…"

Hoggle looked up at her. "Yeah, should you need us…"

"I'll call." She promised.

The truth was that Sarah was afraid what Jareth would do if he was cornered by his own creations. And Sarah knew she couldn't live with herself if he destroyed her friends or worse, erased their memory to turn them against her. At least here she knew that they would be safe.

"Thank you," she said honestly, "All of you."

With one last look at her friends Sarah hurried away down the hallway and through an arch leading into the strangest room she had ever stepped foot in.

In every direction you looked staircases littered the room. On the ceiling, walls, through doorways, everywhere you looked a staircase went.

But she didn't have time to admire the room. She had to find Toby.

Quickly she took off down one of the staircases leading to a small ledge where she could get a better look at the large room. She peeked her head over the side and jumped when she found Jareth looking back at her, upside down on the other side of the ledge.

"So we meet again." A smile grew on his elegant face.

She fought hard not to look thrown. "Where is Toby?"

He tilted his head to one side. "Why does it matter? Even if you can find him do you really think you can get to him before your time is up?"

"I can!"

She took off at a run, jumping down staircases, ducking through archways, and moving every way possible trying to find Toby. All around the room Jareth's laughter echoed, teasing her at every turn when there was no one there.

It was her will against his as they both altered the code; Sarah trying to move the staircases to propel her across large gaps and Jareth preventing her from from doing so. Eventually she came to a stop across from where he was lounging on a wall watching her.

"Give up Sarah." He called to her, amused.

"No!" She screamed at him.

In his fingers he played with a crystal, letting it fall from the palm of his hands where it bounced off the floor and rolled up the stairs right into Toby's hands.

"Toby!"

He must have heard her because he looked up in her direction. But instead of crawling towards her he began crawling back up a staircase away from her.

She took off after him, using all of her energy to fight Jareth to get closer to him. No matter what she did, though, Toby was always just out her reach around a corner, or across the room, or at the top of a staircase.

Eventually there was nowhere else for him to crawl. Sarah saw him just below her perched on one of the windows leading outside the castle. If he crawled out that window he would really fall off the castle.

"No, Toby!"

But it was too late. He was already mid step when she had called to him. She had only a split second to make her decision what to do. She could have tried to alter the code but there was too much risk of Jareth blocking her. Even if it meant falling through herself she couldn't let anything happen to Toby.

Closing her eyes she took the jump, expecting broken bones and pain. But instead she found that when she opened her eyes she was floating through a blank space where the game seemed to dissolve away around her.

Slowly she was lowered onto a sort of ground but there was nothing around her to show where she might be in the game. All there was to see was a black sky around her and at her feet with twinkling stars.

While she was looking around she noticed Jareth materialize from the pixels. He looked as tired as she felt.

He had also changed outfits since a few moments before. His black pants and shirt had been replaced with a lighter grey one. His eyelids were lowered with black circles beginning to form under his eyes. He even put a hand out against a newly created pillar to support himself. They were both at the end of their rope.

"Give me my brother back." Sarah breathed.

"Sarah," He was unable to bring his voice above a whisper, "We must bring this to an end. I have been generous to you for this long, but I have a much darker side than you have seen."

Sarah let that set in for a moment.

"Generous?" She tested the word. "What have you done that's generous."

"Everything…" he shook his head weakly, "Everything you ever could have wanted I have done."

Slowly he peeled away from the pillar to take a slow step towards her. His cane had appeared again with the crystal top.

"You asked someone to liberate you from your baby brother, and I did so. You loved your games so much that you prefered them to reality. I offered you this world and all you have done is seek to change it, to destroy it. You fight me at all turns and I have never retaliated. Of all the times I could have destroyed you, sent you out of the game without ever having a chance to return… but I never did it. Isn't that generous?"

He came to a stop directly in front of her.

She refused to back down.

"This game has been nothing but trouble at every turn. Games are supposed to be enjoyed and to be enjoyed they have to be fair."

"You're saying 'it's not fair' again." Shaking his head he placed a hand on his forehead.

"It's not that life has to be fair, because it doesn't. But games, where there is a competition held, have to have a way to beat them. You created a game that suits only you." She began advancing on him, suddenly feeling brave.

To her surprise he actually took a step back. His face betrayed no emotions.

"The game was not always to suit me, Sarah." Is all he says.

"I don't care. You are selfish, and cruel, and…"

"I ask for so little…" He suddenly whispered, almost to himself, "If you would just let me do as I please I would have given you everything you wanted."

"I want out of this game."

He continued like she hadn't spoken. "You don't have to fear me. You don't even… have to love me. Just stop and this game could be everything you could ever have dreamed."

Sarah was beyond reasoning. She had fought her way through challenge after challenge and her skills of destroying had grown. Despite her absolute exhaustion from fighting Jareth she could feel the strength rising within her. If there was ever a time she wanted to destroy something it was in that very moment.

"I want to go home." She told him, shattering his spell, "I want my brother back. And I want out of this game!"

She lashed out, shattering the space around him. The pressure of the game around her was pressing on her mind. But nothing could stop her anger, her exhaustion, and her fear that Toby would be gone from her forever.

"Sarah, no!" Jareth cried as he leapt towards her.

He too dissolved into the shattering pixels around her. In the distance Sarah could hear a clock chiming. She closed her eyes from the pain in her head.

When she opened her eyes again she was standing in her room. Her television was broken as though someone had smashed their way out. Her computer, which she had left sitting on her bed, had turned itself off. A clock on her bedside read 12:00 exactly.

Slowly she sat herself down on the bed. There were tears streaming down her face.


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer:** All rights go to their original owner

 **Chapter 19**

 _Good Night_

After a moment Sarah was able to steady herself. Her head pounded, her TV was broken, but she was back home. Then she remembered what that meant.

"Toby?" She called down the hallway, "Toby!"

She moved through the house as quickly as she could without passing out. When she finally got to Toby's door she was almost afraid what she might find inside. Last time she went in there it didn't end well.

But when she walked through the door she saw the familiar red and white striped jumper lying in the crib. She sighed in relief at seeing her brother safely back home. And from the silence in the house she guessed she managed to get him back before her parents got home.

Toby stretched and then snuggled into his blanket. He had been through a lot that night. Sarah had also been through a lot that night. As much as she wanted to spend some time with Toby she just wanted to go to bed.

Before she left the room she set up her tablet on the edge of his crib. A song began to play, twinkling with childish charm. Toby smiled at the song and Sarah pulled his blanket up to cover him.

Then she returned to her room. Just as she closed the door she heard the front door open as her parents returned. Judging by the calm tone their conversation had she guessed that they hadn't noticed that either of them were missing for all that time.

Before they could come up to say goodnight to her Sarah locked her door. Although, she had to admit, the people she wanted to keep out of her life wouldn't be coming through the door. She threw a pointed look at her broken TV.

On her bed, loyally, sat her dog Merlin. She gave him a knowing smile.

"You're not always such a chicken." She told him.

He only tilted his head at her.

At first she had thought about going to bed right away. After the day she had had she sure could have used it. But instead she hit the power button on her computer to turn it on. There were a few things she had to look up before she went to bed and passed the whole thing off as a dream.

As the computer was turning on Sarah sat on her bed thinking about everything she had been through. All she could think about was her friends and how she had doomed them by destroying Jareth's game.

She could still hear their voices before she left them.

" _Should you ever need us…"_

"I need you, Hoggle," she said through tears, "Sometimes, for no reason at all, I need you."

She let herself sob at the loss of her friends.

"Well, why didn't you just say so?" Hoggle's voice came from her computer.

Sarah's eyes shot quickly to her computer. There, clearly on the screen, she could see the image of all of her friends standing in a room that looked just like hers. They all waved at her towards the screen, able to see her through the webcam.

"You guys are okay!" She cried happily.

"Oh course!" They replied.

For the rest of the night Sarah caught up with her friends. She was delighted that they had managed to skip out of the game and into her computer at the last minute to avoid being destroyed. Hoggle even complimented her on her victory over Jareth.

When Sarah went to sleep that night she knew that in the morning her friends would still be there when she woke up. There was a lot she wanted to do with her life now, after facing the challenges of the game. But those things would happen slowly with time.

And through it all, her friends would be there helping her along.

THE END

Note: This is the end of the story, I hope you all enjoyed it. I might be writing a sequel to this version of the story but if I do it won't be for a couple weeks at least. Have a great day!


	20. Chapter 20

For all those who asked or are interested the sequel to this story has been posted. It's called The Labyrinth 2002: Game of Mazes. You can go to my page to find it (I think).

Thank you.


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